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IHE   ROMANCE   OF   WORDS 


FIRST  Edition 
Reprinted      .  .  •  •  • 

Second  Edition,  Revisbd  and  Enlarged 
Third  Edition         .  .  •  • 


March  1912 
June  1912 

NOVEMBKR  1918 

MAY  1917 


THE  ROMANCE  OF 
WORDS 

BY   ERNEST   WEEKLEY,    M.A. 

PROFESSOR  OF  FRENCH  AND   HEAD  OF  THE   MODERN   LANGUAGE 

DEPARTMENT  AT  UNIVERSITY  COLLEGE,  NOTTINGHAM  ;  SOMETIME 

SCHOLAR  OF  TRINITY  COLLEGE,  CAMBRIDGE;   AUTHOR   OF  "THE 

ROMANCE   OF   NAMES,"   "SURNAMES" 


Vous  savez  le  latin,  sans  doute  ?  " — 

Oui,  raais  faites  comme  si  je  ne  le  savais  pas." 

(MOLIERE,  Le  Bourgeois  Gentilhomme^  ii.  6.) 


LONDON 

JOHN  MURRAY,  ALBEMARLE  STREET,  W. 

1917 


All  rights  reserved 


PREFACE 

A  LONG  and  somewhat  varied  experience  in  language 
teaching  has  convinced  me  that  there  are  still,  in  spite 
of  the  march  of  science,  many  people  who  are  capable 
of  getting  intellectual  pleasure  from  word-history.  I 
hope  that  to  such  people  this  little  book,  the  amusement 
of  occasional  leisure,  will  not  be  unwelcome.  It  differs, 
I  believe,  from  any  other  popular  book  on  language  in 
that  it  deals  essentially  with  the  origins  of  words.,  and 
makes  no  attempt  to  enforce  a  moral.  My  aim  has 
been  to  select  especially  the  unexpected  in  etymology, 
"  things  not  generally  known,"  such  as  the  fact  that 
Tammany  was  an  Indian  chief,  that  assegai  occurs  in 
Chaucer,  that  jilt  is  identical  with  Juliet^  that  brazil 
wood  is  not  named  from  Brazil^  that  to  curry  favour 
means  to  comb  down  a  horse  of  a  particular  colour,  and 
so  forth.  The  treatment  is  made  as  simple  as  possible, 
a  bowing  acquaintance  with  Latin  and  French  being 
all  that  is  assumed,  though  words  from  many  other 
languages  are  necessarily  included.  In  the  case  of  each 
word  I  have  traced  the  history  just  so  far  back  as  it  is 
likely  to  be  of  interest  to  the  reader  who  is  not  a  philo- 
logical specialist. 

I  have  endeavoured  to  state  each  proposition  in  its 
simplest  terms,  without  enumerating  all  the  reserva- 
tions and  indirect  factors  which  belong  to  the  history 
of  almost  every  word. 

The  chapter  headings  only  indicate  in  a  general  way 
the  division  of  the  subject  matter,  the  arrangement  of 


vi  PREFACE 

which  has  been  determined  rather  by  the  natural  associa- 
tion which  exists  between  words.  The  quotations  are, 
with  few  exceptions,  drawn  from  my  own  reading.  They 
come  from  very  varied  sources,  but  archaic  words  are 
exemplified,  when  possible,  from  authors  easily  acces- 
sible, generally  Shakespeare  or  Milton,  or,  for  revived 
archaisms,  Scott.  In  illustrating  obsolete  meanings  I 
have  made  much  use  of  the  earliest  dictionaries^ 
available. 

It  seemed  undesirable  to  load  a  small  work  of  this 
kind  with  references.  The  writer  on  word-lore  must  of 
necessity  build  on  what  has  already  been  done,  happy  if 
he  can  add  a  few  bricks  to  the  edifice.  But  philologists 
will  recognise  that  this  book  is  not,  in  the  etymological 
sense,  a  mere  compilation,^  and  that  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  information  it  contains  is  here  printed  for 
the  first  time  in  a  form  accessible  to  the  general  reader.^ 
Chapter  VII.,  on  Semantics,  is,  so  far  as  I  know,  the 
first  attempt  at  a  simple  treatment  of  a  science  which 
is  now  admitted  to  an  equality  with  phonetics,  and 
which  to  most  people  is  much  more  interesting. 

Throughout  I  have  used  the  New  English  Dictionary^ 
in  the  etymological  part  of  which  I  have  for  some  years 
had  a  humble  share,  for  purposes  of  verification.  With- 
out the  materials  furnished  by  the  historical  method  of 
that  great  national  work,  which  is  now  complete  from 
A  to  R,  this  book  would  not  have  been  attempted. 
For  words  in  S  to  .  Z,  I  have  referred  chiefly  to 
Professor  Skeat's  Etymological  Dictionary  (4th  ed,, 
Oxford,  1 9 10). 

1  For  a  list  of  these  see  p.  xii. 

2  Compilation  "  pillage,  polling,  robbing  "  (Cooper). 

3  Among  words  on  which  the  reader  will  find  either  entirely  new 
information  or  a  modification  of  generally  accepted  views  are  akimbo^  anlace^ 
brankSy  caulk,  cockney,  felon  (a  whitlow),  foil,  kestrel,  lugger,  mulligrubs, 
mystery  (a  craft),  oriel,  patchy  petronel,  salet,  sentry,  sullen,  tret,  etc. 


PREFACE 

It  is  not  many  years  since  what  passed  for  etymology 
in  this  country  was  merely  a  congeries  of  wild  guesses 
and  manufactured  anecdotes.  The  persistence  with 
which  these  crop  up  in  the  daily  paper  and  the  class- 
room must  be  my  excuse  for  "slaying  the  slain"  in 
Chapter  XIII.  Some  readers  may  regret  the  disap- 
pearance of  these  fables,  but  a  little  study  will  convince 
them  that  in  the  life  of  words,  as  in  that  of  men,  truth 
is  stranger  than  fiction. 

Ernest  Weekley. 

NOTIlUGHAMy  January  1912. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND 
EDITION 

On  its  first  publication  this  little  book  was  very  kindly 
treated  by  both  reviewers  and  readers.  The  only 
criticism  of  any  importance  was  'directed  against  its 
conciseness.  There  seemed  to  be  a  consensus  of 
expert  opinion  that,  the  book  being  intended  for  the 
non-specialist,  the  compression  was  a  little  too  severe, 
and  likely  sometimes  to  lead  to  misunderstanding.  I 
have  tried  to  remedy  this  defect  in  the  present  edition, 
both  by  giving  fuller  explanations  and  by  supplying 
further  quotations  in  illustration  of  the  less  common 
words  and  uses.  No  absolutely  new  matter  is  intro- 
duced, but  a  number  of  fresh  words  have  been 
added  as  examples  of  points  already  noticed.  The 
general  arrangement  of  the  book  remains  unchanged, 
except  that  a  few  paragraphs  have  been  shifted  to 
what  seemed  more  natural  positions. 


viii      PREFACE  TO  THE  THIRD  EDITION 

Friendly  correspondents  in  all  parts  of  the  world, 
to  many  of  whom  I  must  apologise  for  my  failure  to 
answer  their  letters,  have  sent  me  information  of 
interest  and  value.  In  some  cases  I  have  been  able 
to  make  use  of  such  information  for  this  edition. 
Many  readers  have  called  my  attention  to  local  and 
American  survivals  of  words  and  meanings  described 
as  obsolete.  This  is  a  subject  on  which  a  great  deal 
could  be  written,  but  it  lies  outside  the  plan  of  this 
book,  which  does  not  aspire  to  do  more  than  furnish 
some  instruction  or  entertainment  to  those  who  are 
interested  in  the  curiosities  of  etymology. 

Ernest  Weekley. 


PREFACE   TO   THE   THIRD 
EDITION 

It  is  just  five  yeafs  since  this  little  book  was  first 
submitted  to  the  toleration  of  word-lovers,  a  class 
much  more  numerous  than  the  author  had  suspected. 
The  second  edition,  revised  and  slightly  enlarged, 
appeared  in  191 3.  Since  then  the  text  has  once  more 
been  subjected  to  a  searching  revision,  and  it  is  hoped 
that  the  book  now  contains  no  statement  which  is  not 
in  accord  with  common  sense  and  the  present  state 
of  philological  knowledge.  Only  those  who  have 
experience  of  such  work  know  how  easy  it  is  to  stray 
unconsciously  from  the  exact  truth  in  publishing  the 
results  of  etymological  research.  Moreover,  new  light 
is  constantly  being  thrown  on  old  problems,  and  theories 
long  triumphant  have   occasionally   to  yield   to   fresh 


PREFACE  TO  THE  THIRD  EDITION        ix 

evidence.  To  take  an  example  from  this  volume,  the 
traditional  derivation  of  trousers  from  French  trousse 
is  now  shown  by  the  New  English  Dictionary  to  be 
chronologically  improbable.  That  great  and  cautious 
work  unhesitatingly  describes  hatchment  as  a  corruption 
of  achievement,  but  Professor  Derocquigny,  of  Lille, 
has  shown  {Modern  Language  Review,  January  191 3) 
that  this  etymology  is  "  preposterous,"  hachement 
being  a  good  old  French  word  which  in  i6th  century 
English  was  ignorantly  confused  with  achievement. 
Apart  from  these  two  etymologies,^  the  only  essential 
alterations  have  been  made  in  the  chapter  on  Surnames 
(p.  170),  further  research  in  medieval  records  having 
convinced  the  author  that  most  of  what  has  been 
written  about  "corrupted"  surnames  is  nonsense,  and 
that  no  nickname  is  too  fantastic  to  be  genuine.^  Twb 
slight  contemplated  alterations  have  not  been  carried 
out.  The  adjective  applied  (p.  156)  to  a  contemporary 
ruler  seemed  to  need  reconsideration,  but  the  author  was 
baffled  by  the  embarras  du  choix.  A  word  mentioned 
on  p.  48  might  gracefully  have  been  omitted,  but  it  is 
likely  that  the  illustrious  man  alluded  to  would,  if  the 
page  should  ever  accidentally  meet  his  eye,  only 
chuckle  at  the  thought  of  time's  revenges. 

In  the  interval  since  the  last  edition  of  the  Romance 
of  Words  the  greatest  Romance  of  Deeds  in  our  story 
has  been  written  in  the  blood  of  our  noblest  and  best. 


^  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  New  English  Dictionary  now  finds  shark 
applied  to  the  fish  some  years  before  the  first  record  of  shark^  a  sharper, 
parasite,  I  adhere  to  my  belief  that  the  latter  is  the  earlier  sense.  The  new 
example  quoted,  from  a  Tudor  "  broadside,"  is  more  suggestive  of  a 
sailor's  apt  nickname  than  of  zoological  nomenclature — "There  is  no 
proper  name  for  it  that  I  knowe,  but  that  seitayne  men  of  Captayue 
Haukinses  doth  call  it  a  sharke"  (1569). 

2  See  the  di\xth.ov's  Surnames  (John  Murray,  1916),  especially  pp.  177-83. 


X  PREFACE  TO  THE  THIRD  EDITION 

Only  a  sense  of  proportion  withholds  the  author  from 
dedicating  this  new  edition  to  the  glorious  memory 
of  his  many  old  pupils  dead  on  the  field  of  honour. 
Nothing  in  the  modest  success  of  the  book  has  given 
him  so  much  pleasure  as  the  fact,  to  which  his  corre- 
spondence bears  witness,  that  his  little  contribution 
to  word-lore  has  helped  to  amuse  the  convalescence  of 
more  than  one  stricken  fighting-man. 

Ernest  Weekley. 
Nottingham,  March  1917. 


CONTENTS 


CHAP. 

I.  Our  Vocabulary 

•          •          ■ 

VAOB 
I 

II.  Wanderings  of  Words 

•          •          « 

17 

III.  Words  of  Popular  Manufacture          , 

.        29 

IV.  Words  and  Places  . 

•          • 

.        47 

V.  Phonetic  Accidents 

•          •          fl 

54 

VI.  Words  and  Meanings 

•          t           « 

72 

VII.  Semantics 

•          •          « 

86 

VIII.  Metaphor 

•          «          • 

.      105 

IX.  Folk-Etymology 

t          «          , 

.      113 

X.  Doublets        .          , 

•          • 

.      139 

XI.  Homonyms       .           , 

•                    •                    •                    a 

155 

XII.  Family  Names 

• 

169 

XIII.  Etymological  Fact  and 

Fiction            ,          , 

184 

Index    . 

•          •          ■          • 

205 

The  following  dictionaries  are  quoted  without  furthei 
reference : — 

Palsgrave,  French  and  English  (1530). 
Cooper,  Latin  and  English  (1573). 
Percyvall,  Spanish  and  English  (1591). 
Florio,  Italian  and  English  (1598). 
Cotgrave,  French  and  English  (161 1 ). 
Torriano,  Italian  and  English  (1659). 
Hexham,  Dutch  and  English  (1660). 
Ludwig,  German  and  English  (1716). 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  WORDS 


CHAPTER  I 

OUR    VOCABULARY 

The  bulk  of  our  literary  language  is  Latin,  and  consists 
of  words  either  borrowed  directly  or  taken  from 
"  learned  "  French  forms.  The  every-day  vocabulary  of 
the  less  educated  is  of  Old  English,  commonly  called 
Anglo-Saxon,  origin  ;  and  from  the  same  source  comes 
what  we  may  call  the  machinery  of  the  language,  i.e.^  its 
inflexions,  numerals,  pronouns,  prepositions,  and  con- 
junctions. Along  with  Anglo-Saxon,  we  find  a  con- 
siderable number  of  words  from  the  related  Norse 
languages,  this  element  being  naturally  strongest  in  the 
dialects  of  the  north  and  east  of  England.  The  third 
great  element  of  our  working  vocabulary  is  furnished  by 
Old  French,  i.e.^  the  language  naturally  developed  from 
the  spoken  Latin  of  the  Roman  soldiers  and  colonists, 
generally  called  Vulgar  Latin.  To  its  composite  char- 
acter English  owes  its  unequalled  richness  in  expression. 
For  most  ideas  we  have  three  separate  terms,  or  groups 
of  terms,  which,  often  starting  from  the  same  metaphor, 
serve  to  express  different  shades  of  meaning.  Thus  a 
deed  done  with  malice  prepense  (an  Old  French  com- 
pound from  Lat.  pensare,  to  weigh),  is  deliberate  or 
pondered^     both    Latin     words    which    mean    literally 

A 


i  OUR  VOCABULARY 

"  weighed " ;  but  the  four  words  convey  four  distinct 
shades  of  meaning.  The  Gk.  sympathy  is  Lat  com- 
passion^ rendered  in  English  \iy  fellow-feeling. 

Sometimes  a  native  word  has  been  completely  sup- 
planted by  a  loan  word,  e.g.^  Anglo-Sax.  here^  army  {cf 
Ger.  Heer)^  gave  way  to  Old  Fr.  {h)ost  (p.  158).  This 
in  its  turn  was  replaced  by  army^  Fr.  arm^e,  which,  like 
its  Spanish  doublet  armada,  is  really  a  feminine  past 
participle  with  some  word  for  host,  band,  etc.  under- 
stood. Here  has  survived  in  Hereford,  harbour  (p.  164), 
harbinger  (p.  90),  etc.,  and  in  the  verb  harry  {cf  Ger. 
verheeren,  to  harry).  Or  a  native  word  may  persist  in 
some  special  sense,  e.g.,  weed,  a  general  term  for  garment 
in  Shakespeare — 

"And  there  the  snake  throws  her  enamel'd  skin, 
Weed  wide  enough  to  wrap  a  fairy  in  " 

{Midsummer  Nighfs  Dream,  ii.  2.) 

survives  in  "  widow's  weeds"     Chare,  a  turn  of  work — 

"  the  maid  that  milks 
And  does  the  meanest  chares." 

{Antony  and  Cleopatra,  iv.  15.) 

has  given  us  charwoman,  and  persists  as  American 
chore — 

"  Sharlee  was  .  .  .  concluding  the  post-prandial  chores." 
(H.  S.  Harrison,  Queed,  Ch.  17.) 

Sake,  cognate  with  Ger.  Sache,  thing,  cause,  and  origin- 
ally meaning  a  contention  at  law,  has  been  replaced  by 
cause,  except  in  phrases  beginning  with  the  preposition 
for.  See  also  bead  (p.  74).  Unkempt,  uncombed,  and 
uncouth,  unknown,  are  fossil  remains  of  obsolete  verb 
forms. 

In  addition  to  these  main  constituents  of  our 
language,    we    have    borrowed    words,    sometimes    in 


LATIN  WORDS  3 

considerable  numbers,  sometimes  singly  and  accident- 
ally, from  almost  every  tongue  known  to  mankind,  and 
every  year  sees  new  words  added  to  our  vocabulary. 
The  following  chapters  deal  especially  with  words 
borrowed  from  Old  French  and  from  the  other 
Romance  languages,  their  origins  and  journeyings, 
and  the  various  accidents  that  have  befallen  them  in 
English.  It  is  in  such  words  as  these  that  the  romance 
of  language  is  best  exemplified,  because  we  can  usually 
trace  their  history  from  Latin  to  modern  English,  while 
the  earlier  history  of  Anglo-Saxon  words  is  a  matter 
for  the  philologist. 

Words  borrowed  directly  from  Latin  or  Greek  lack 
this  intermediate  experience,  though  the  study  of  their 
original  meanings  is  full  of  surprises.  This,  however, 
is  merely  a  question  of  opening  a  Latin  or  Greek 
dictionary,  if  we  have  not  time  for  the  moment's 
reflexion  which  would  serve  the  same  purpose.  Thus, 
to  take  a  dozen  examples  at  random,  to  abominate^  is  to 
turn  shuddering  from  the  evil  omen^  a  generous  man  is  a 
man  of  "race"  {genus),  an  innuendo  can  be  conveyed 
"by  nodding,"  to  insult  is  to  "jump  on,"  a  legend  is 
something  "  to  be  read,"  a  manual  is  a  "  hand-hooVl'  an 
obligation  is  essentially  "binding,"  to  relent  is  to  "go 
slow"  rivals  are  people  living  by  the  same  stream 
{rivus),  a  salary  is  an  allowance  for  "salt"  {sal),  a 
supercilious  man  is  fond  of  lifting  his  "  eyebrows " 
{superciliuin),  and  a  trivial  matter  is  so  commonplace 
that  it  can  be  picked  up  at  the  meeting  of  "  three  ways  " 
{trivium).  Dexterity  implies  skill  with  the  " right"  hand 
{dexter),  while  sinister  preserves  the  superstition  of  the 
ill-omened  "  left." 

*  Abominable  is  regularly  spelt  abhominahle  in  late  Old  French  and 
Mid.  English,  as  though  meaning  "  inhuman,"  Lat.  homo^  homin-,  a  man. 
For  a  similar  case  of  "learned"  folk-etymology,  ci. posthumous  (p.  126), 


4  OUR  VOCABULARY 

It    may  be    remarked    here    that    the   number   of 

Latin  words  used  in  their  unaltered  form  in  every-day 

English  is  larger  than  is  generally  realised.     Besides 

such  phrases  as  bona-fide^  post-mortem^  viva-voce^  or  such 

abbreviations  as  A.M.,  ante  ^neridiem^  D.V.,  Deo  volente, 

and  L.  s.  d.,  for  libice^  solidly  denarii^  we  have,  without 

including    scientific    terms,    many    Latin    nouns,  e.g., 

,  animaly  genius^   index^   odiums   omen^  premium.^    radius^ 

\scmtillay  stimulus^  tribunal^  and  adjectives,  e.g.,  co77tpleXy 

ilucifery  miser,  pauper ^  maximum^  senior ^   and    the  un- 

igrammatical  bonus.     The  Lat.  veto,  I  forbid,  has  been 

worked  hard  of  late.     The  stage  has  given  us  exit^  he 

goes  out,  and   the  Universities  exeat^  let  him  go  out, 

while  law  language  contains  a  number  of  Latin  verb 

forms,  e.g.,  affidavit  (late  Latin),  he  has  testified,  caveat^ 

let  him  beware,  cognovit^  he  has  recognised — 

"  You  gave  them  a  cognovit  for  the  amount  of  your  costs  after 
the  trial,  I'm  told." 

{Pickwick y  Ch.  46.) 

due  to  the  initial  words  of  certain  documents.  Similarly 
item^  also,  is  the  first  word  in  each  paragraph  of  an 
inventory.  With  this  we  may  compare  the  purview  of 
a  statute,  from  the  Old  Fr.  pourveu  {pourvu\  provided, 
with  which  it  used  to  begin.  A  tenet  is  what  one 
"holds."  Fiat  means  "let  it  be  done."  When  Mr 
Weller  lamented — 

"Oh,  Sammy,  Sammy,  vy  worn't  there  a  alleybif" 

{Pickwick,  Ch.  34.) 

it  is  safe  to  say  that  he  was  not  consciously  using  the 
Latin  adverb  alibi,  elsewhere,  nor  is  the  printer  who  puts 
in  a  viz.  always  aware  that  this  is  an  old  abbreviation 
for  videlicet^  i.e.,  videre  licet ^  it  is  permissible  to  see. 
A  nostrum  is  "our"  unfailing  remedy,  and  tandem^  at 
length,  instead  of  side  by  side,  is  a  university  joke. 


INFLECTED  LATIN  FORMS  5 

Sometimes  we  have  inflected  forms  of  Latin  words. 
A  rebus^  is  a  word  or  phrase  represented  "by  things." 
Requiem^  accusative  of  requtes,  rest,  is  the  first  word  of 
the  introit  used  in  the  mass  for  the  dead — 
^^  Requiem  seternam  dona  eis,  Domine," 

while  dirge  is  the  Latin  imperative  dirige^  from  the 
antiphon  in  the  same  service — 

"Dirige^  Domine  meus,  in  conspectu  tuo  viam  meam." 
The  spelling  dirige  was  once  common — 

"Also  I  byqwethe  to  eche  of  the  paryshe  prystys  beying  at  my 
dyryge  and  masse  xiid." 

(Will  of  John  Perfay,  of  Bury  St.  Edmunds,  1509.) 

Query  was  formerly  written  qucere^  seek,  and  plaudit  is 
for  plaudite^  clap  your  hands,  the  appeal  of  the  Roman 
actors  to  the  audience  at  the  conclusion  of  the  play — 

"Nunc,  spectatores,  lovis  summi  causa  c\2.ve. plaudite." 

(Plautus,  Amphitruo,) 

Debenture  is  for  debentur^  there  are  owing.  Dominie  is 
the  Latin  vocative  domine^  formerly  used  by  schoolboys 
in  addressing  their  master,  while  pandy^  a  stroke  on  the 
hand  with  a  cane,  is  from  pande  palmanty  hold  out  your 
hand.  Parse  is  the  Lat.  pars^  occurring  in  the  question 
QucB  pars  orationis  ?  What  part  of  speech  ?  Omnibus^ 
for  all,  is  a  dative  plural.  Limbo  is  the  ablative  of  Lat. 
limbuSy  an  edge,  hem,  in  the  phrase  "  in  limbo  patrum," 
where  limbus  is  used  for  the  abode  of  the  Old  Testament 
saints  on  the  verge  of  Hades.  It  is  already  jocular  in 
Shakespeare — 

"  I  have  some  of  'em  in  litnbo  patrum,  and  there  they  are  like 
to  dance  these  three  days." 

{Henry  VIIL,  v.  3.) 

^  But  the  word  comes  to  us  from  French.  In  the  i6th  century  such 
puzzles  were  called  rebus  de  Picardie,  because  of  their  popularity  in  that 
province. 

A  2 


6  OUR  VOCABULARY 

Folio,  quarto^  etc.,  are  ablatives,  from  the  phrases  in  folio^ 
in  quarto^  etc.,  still  used  in  French.  Premises^  earlier 
premisses^  is  a  slightly  disguised  Lat.  prcemissas^  the 
aforesaid,  lit.  sent  before,  used  in  deeds  to  avoid 
repeating  the  full  description  of  a  property.  It  is  thus 
the  same  word  as  logical  premisses^  or  assumptions. 
'  Quorum  is  from  a  legal  formula  giving  a  list  of  persons 
"of  whom"  a  certain  number  must  be  present.  A 
teetotum  is  so  called  because  it  has,  or  once  had,  on  one 
of  its  sides,  a  T  standing  for  totum,  all.  It  was  also 
called  simply  a  totum.  The  other  three  sides  also  bore 
letters  to  indicate  what  share,  if  any,  of  the  stake  they 
represented.  Cotgrave  has  totum  {toton),  "  a  kind  of 
game  with  a  whirle-bone."  In  spite  of  the  interesting 
anecdote  about  the  temperance  orator  with  an 
impediment  in  his  speech,  it  was  probably  teetotum 
that  suggested  teetotaller. 

We  have  also  a  few  words  straight  from  Greek, 
e.g.,  analysis^  aroma,  atlas,  the  world-sustaining  demi- 
god whose  picture  used  to  decorate  map-books,  colon, 
comma,  dogma,  epitome,  miasma,  nausea,  Gk.  vavcria,  lit. 
sea-sickness,  nectar,  whence  the  fruit  called  a  nectarine — 

"  Nectarine  fruits  which  the  compliant  boughs 
.   Yielded  them,  sidelong  as  they  sat  recline." 

{Paradise  Lost,  iv.  332.) 

pathos,  python^  pyx,  synopsis,  etc. ;  but  most  of  our  Greek 
words  have  passed  through  French  via  Latin,  or 
are  newly  manufactured  scientific  terms,  often  most 
unscientifically  constructed. 

Gamut  contains  the  Gk.  gamma  and  the  Latin 
conjunction  ut.  Guy  d'Arezzo,  who  flourished  in  the 
nth  century,  is  said  to  have  introduced  the  method 
of  indicating  the  notes  by  the  letters  a  to  g.  For  the 
note  below  a  he  used  the  Gk.  gamma.     To  him  is  attri- 


FRENCH  DIALECTS  7 

buted  also  the  series  of  monosyllables  by  which  the 
notes  are  also  indicated.  They  are  supposed  to  be 
taken  from  a  Latin  hymn  to  St  John — 

Ut  queant  laxis  ^sonare  fibris 
iil/zra  gestorumy(3:muli  tuorum 
Solv^  polluti  /<a:bii  reatum 
5ancte  /ohannes. 

Do  is  sometimes  substituted  for  ut  in  French,  and 
always  in  modern  English. 

In  considering  the  Old  French  element  in  English, 
one  has  to  bear  in  mind  a  few  elementary  philological 
facts.  Nearly  all  French  nouns  and  adjectives  are 
derived  from  the  accusative.  I  give,  for  simplicity, 
the  nominative,  adding  the  stem  in  the  case  of 
imparisyllabic  words.  The  foundation  of  French  is 
Vulgar  Latin,  which  differs  considerably  from  that 
we  study  at  school.  I  only  give  Vulgar  Latin  forms 
where  it  cannot  be  avoided.  For  instance,  in  dealing 
with  culverin  (p.  38),  I  connect  Fr.  couleuvre^  adder, 
with  Lat.  coluber^  a  snake.  Every  Romance  philologist 
knows  that  it  must  represent  Vulgar  Lat.  *  colSbra ;  but 
this  form,  which,  being  conjectural,  is  marked  with  an 
asterisk,  had  better  be  forgotten  by  the  general 
reader. 

Our  modern  English  words  often  preserve  a  French 
form  which  no  longer  exists,  or  they  are  taken  from 
dialects,  especially  those  of  Normandy  and  Picardy, 
which  differ  greatly  from  that  of  Paris.  The  word 
caudle  illustrates  both  these  points.  It  is  the  same 
word  as  modern  Fr.  chaudeau^  "a  caudle;  or,  warme 
broth  "  (Cotgrave),  but  it  preserves  the  Old  French  ^  -el 
for  -eau^  and  the  Picard  c-  for  ch-.  An  uncomfortable 
bridle  which  used  to  be  employed  to  silence  scolds  was 

^  For  simplicity  the  term  Old  French  is  used  here  to  include  all  words 
not  in  modern  use.     Where  a  modern  form  exists  it  is  given  in  parentheses. 


8  OUR  VOCABULARY 

called  the  branks.  It  is  a  Scottish  word,  originally 
applied  to  a  bridle  improvised  from  a  halter  with  a 
wooden  "  cheek  "  each  side  to  prevent  it  from  slipping — 

"And  then  its  shanks, 
They  were  as  thin,  as  sharp  and  sma' 
As  cheeks  o'  branks." 
(Burns,  Death  and  Doctor  Hornbook^  vii.  4.) 

These  cheeks  correspond  to  the  two  parallel  levers  called 
the  "  branches "  of  a  bridle,  and  brank  is  the  Norman 
branque^  branch.  All  the  meanings  of  patch  answer  to 
those  of  Fr.  piece.  It  comes  from  the  Old  French 
dialect  form  peche^  as  snatch  comes  from  meche,  and 
cratch,  a  manger,  from  creche,  of  German  origin,  and 
ultimately  the  same  word  as  crib.  Cratch  is  now- 
replaced,  except  in  dialect,  by  majzger,  Fr.  mangeoire, 
from  manger,  to  eat,  but  it  was  the  regular  word  in 
Mid.  English — 

"  Sche  childide  her  firste  born  sone,  and  wlappide  him  in  clothis, 
and  puttide  in  a  cracche." 

(Wyclif,  Luke,  ii.  7.) 

Pew  is  from  Old  Yx.puy,  a  stage,  eminence,  \jdX,  podium, 
which  survives  in  Puy  de  Dome,  the  mountain  in 
Auvergne  on  which  Pascal  made  his  experiments  with 
the  barometer.  Dupuy  is  a  common  family  name  in 
France,  but  the  Depews  of  the  West  Indies  have  kept 
the  older  pronunciation. 

Many  Old  French  words  which  live  on  in  England 
are  obsolete  in  France.  Chi^ne  is  Old  Fr.  chimbe  from 
Greco-Lat.  cymbalum.  Minsheu  (161 7)  derived  dismal 
from  Lat.  dies  mali,  evil  days.  This,  says  Trench, 
"is  exactly  one  of  those  plausible  etymologies  which 
one  learns  after  a  while  to  reject  with  contempt."  But 
Minsheu  is  substantially  right,  if  we  substitute  Old 
Yx.dis  ;«<^/,  which  is  found  as  early  as  1256.     Old  Fr. 


INFLECTED  FRENCH  FORMS  9 

di,  a  day,  also  survives  in  the  names  of  the  days  of  the 
week,  hcndiy  etc.  In  remainder  and  remnant  we  have  the 
infinitive  and  present  participle  of  an  obsolete  Old  French 
verb  derived  from  Lat.  remanere.  Manor  ^x\(\  power  are 
also  Old  French  infinitives,  the  first  now  only  used 
as  a  noun  {manoir),  the  second  represented  hy  pouvozr. 
Misnomer  is  the  Anglo-French  infinitive,  "to  misname." 

In  some  cases  we  have  preserved  meanings  now 
obsolete  in  French.  Trump,  in  cards,  is  Fr.  triomphe^ 
"the  card  game  called  ruffe,  or  trump;  also,  the  ruffe, 
or  trmnp  at  it"  (Cotgrave),  but  the  modern  French 
word  for  trump  is  atout^  to  all.  Rappee  is  for  obsolete 
Fr.  (tabac)  rdpe^  pulverised,  rasped.  Fr.  talon^  heel, 
from  Vulgar  Lat.  *  talo^  talon-^  for  talus^  was  applied  by 
falconers  to  the  heel  claw  of  the  hawk.  This  meaning, 
obsolete  in  French,  has  persisted  in  English.  The  mizen 
mast  is  the  rearmost  of  three,  but  the  Fr.  mdt  de  misaine 
is  the  fore- mast,  and  both  come  from  Ital.  mezzana^ 
middle,  "also  the  poop  or  mizensail^  in  a  ship" 
(Torriano). 

As  in  the  case  of  Latin,  we  have  some  inflected  French 
forms  in  English.  Lampoon  is  from  the  archaic  Fr. 
lampon^  "a  drunken  song"  QAihgQ,  French  Dict.^  1688). 
This  is  coined  from  the  imperative  lampons^  let  us 
drink,  regularly  used  as  a  refrain  in  seditious  and 
satirical   songs.     For  the  formation  we   may  compare 

*  The  name  was  thus  applied  to  a  sail  before  it  was  given  to  a  mast. 
Although  the  Italian  word  means  "  middle,"  it  is  perhaps,  in  this  particular 
sense,  a  popular  corruption  of  an  Arabic  word  of  quite  different  meaning. 
The  discussion  of  so  difficult  a  problem  is  rather  out  of  place  in  a  book 
intended  for  the  general  reader,  but  I  cannot  refrain  from  giving  a  most 
interesting  note  which  I  owe  to  Mr  W.  B.  Whall,  Master  Mariner,  the 
author  of  Shakespeare' s  Sea  Terms  Explained — '*  The  sail  was  (until  c.  1780) 
lateen,  i.e.,  triangular,  like  the  sail  of  a  galley.  The  Saracens,  or  Moors, 
were  the  great  galley  sailors  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  mizen  comes  from 
Arab.,  miezen,  balance.  The  mizen  is,  even  now,  a  sail  that  *  balances,*  and 
the  reef  in  a  mizen  is  still  called  the  •  balance  '  reef." 


10  OUR  VOCABULARY 

American  vamose,  to  skedaddle,  from  Span,  vamos,  let 
us  go.  The  military  revelly  is  the  French  imperative 
reveillez,  wake  up,  but  in  the  French  army  it  is  called 
the  diane.  The  gist  of  a  matter  is  the  point  in  which 
its  importance  really  "  lies."  Ci-gtt,  for  Old  Fr.  ct-gist, 
Lat.  jacety  here  lies,  is  seen  on  old  tombstones.  Tennis, 
says  Minsheu,  is  so  called  from  Fr.  tenez,  hold,  "  which 
word  the  Frenchmen,  the  onely  tennis-players,  use  to 
speake  when  they  strike  the  ball."  This  etymology,  for 
a  long  time  regarded  as  a  wild  guess,  has  been  shewn 
by  recent  research  to  be  most  probably  correct.  The 
game  is  of  French  origin,  and  it  was  played  by 
French  knights  in  Italy  a  century  before  we  find  it 
alluded  to  by  Gower  (c.  1400).  Erasmus  tells  us  that 
the  server  called  out  accipe,  to  which  his  opponent 
replied  viitie,  and  as  French,  and  not  Latin,  was 
certainly  the  language  of  the  earliest  tennis-players, 
we  may  infer  that  the  spectators  named  the  game 
from  the  foreign  word  with  which  each  service  began. 
In  French  the  game  is  cdiW^d  paume,  palm  of  the  hand ; 
cf.  Jives,  also  a  slang  name  for  the  hand.  The  archaic 
assoil — 

"And  the  holy  man  he  assail' d  us,  and  sadly  we  sail'd  away." 
(Tennyson,  Voyage  of  Mcieldune,yi\.  12.) 

is  the  present  subjunctive  of  the  Old  Fr.  asoldrc 
{absoudre),  to  absolve,  used  in  the  stereotyped  phrase 
Dieus  vos  asoile,  may  God  absolve  you. 

A  linguistic  invasion  such  as  that  of  English  by  Old 
French  is  almost  unparalleled.  We  have  instances  of 
the  expulsion  of  one  tongue  by  another,  eg.,  of  the 
Celtic  dialects  of  Gaul  by  Latin  and  of  those  of  Britain 
by  Anglo-Saxon.  But  a  real  blending  of  two  languages 
can  only  occur  when  a  large  section  of  the  population 
is  bilingual  for  centuries.     This,  as  we  know,  was  the 


NEOLOGISMS  11 

case  in  England.  '  The  Norman  dialect,  already  familiar 
through  inevitable  intercourse,  was  transplanted  to 
England  in  1066.  It  developed  further  on  its  own 
lines  into  Anglo-Norman,  and  then,  mixed  with  other 
French  dialects,  for  not  all  the  invaders  were  Normans, 
and  political  events  brought  various  French  provinces 
into  relation  with  England,  it  produced  Anglo-French, 
a  somewhat  barbarous  tongue  which  was  the  official 
language  till  1362,  and  with  which  our  legal  jargon 
is  saturated.  We  find  in  Anglo  -  French  many  words 
which  are  unrecorded  in  continental  Old  French,  among 
them  one  which  we  like  to  think  of  as  essentially 
English,  viz.,  duete,  duty,  ah  abstract  formed  from  the 
past  participle  of  Fr.  devoir.  This  verb  has  also  given 
us  endeavour,  due  to  the  phrase  se  mettre  en  devoir — 

"  Je  me  suis  en  debvolrims  pour  moderer  sa  cholere  tyrannicque."  ^ 

{Rabelais,  i.  29.) 

No  dictionary  can  keep  up  with  the  growth  of  a 
language.  The  New  English  Dictionary  had  done  the 
letter  C  before  the  cinematograph  arrived,  but  got  it 
in  under  K.  Words  of  this  kind  are  manufactured  in 
such  numbers  that  the  lexicographer  is  inclined  to  wait 
and  see  whether  they  will  catch  on.  In  such  cases  it  is 
hard  to  prophesy.  The  population  of  this  country  may 
be  divided  into  those  people  who  have  been  operated 
for  appendicitis  and  those  who  are  going  to  be.  Yet 
this  word  was  considered  too  rare  and  obscure  for  in- 
sertion in  the  first  volume  of  the  New  English  Dictionary 
(1888),  the  greatest  word-book  that  has  ever  been  pro- 
jected. Sabotage  looks,  unfortunately,  as  if  it  had  come 
to  stay.  It  is  a  derivative  of  saboter,  to  scamp  work, 
from  sabot,  a  wooden  shoe,  used  contemptuously  of  an 

*  **  I  have  endeavoured  to  moderate  his  tyrannical  choler  "  (Urquhart's 
Translation,  1653). 


12  OUR  VOCABULARY 

inferior  article.  The  great  French  dictionaries  do  not 
know  it  in  its  latest  sense  of  malicious  damage  done 
by  strikers,  and  the  New  English  Dictionary^  which 
finished  Sa-  last  year,  has  just  missed  it.  Hooligan  is 
I  not  recorded  by  the  New  English  Dictionary.  The 
\  original  Hooligans  were  a  spirited  Irish  family  of  that 
name  whose  proceedings  enlivened  the  drab  monotony 
of  life  in  Southwark  towards  the  end  of  the  19th  century. 
The  word  is  younger  than  the  Australian  larrikin,  of 
doubtful  origin  (see  p.  190),  but  older  than  Fr.  apache. 
The  adoption  of  the  Red  Indian  name  Apache  for  a 
modern  Parisian  bravo  is  a  curious  parallel  to  the  18th- 
century  use  of  Mohock  (Mohawk)  for  an  aristocratic 
London  ruffler. 

Heckle  is  first  recorded  in  its  political  sense  for  1880. 
The  New  English  Dictionary  quotes  it  from  Punch  in  con- 
nection with  the  Fourth  Party.  In  Scottish,  however,  it 
is  old  in  this  sense,  so  that  it  is  an  example  of  a  dialect 
word  that  has  risen  late  in  life.  Its  southern  form  hatchell 
is  common  in  Mid.  English  in  its  proper  sense  of 
"teasing"  hemp  or  flax,  and  the  metaphor  is  exactly 
the  same.  Tease,  earlier  toose,  means  to  pluck  or  pull 
to  pieces,  hence  the  name  teasel  for  the  thistle  used  by 
wool-carders.  The  older  form  is  seen  in  the  derivative 
tousle,  the  family  name  Tozer,  and  the  dog's  name 
Towser.  Feckless,  a  common  Scottish  word,  was  hardly 
literary  English  before  Carlyle.    It  is  now  quite  familiar — 

"  Thriftless,  sh\ii\ess,  feckless." 

(Mr  Lloyd  George,  ist  Nov.  191 1.) 

There  is  a  certain  appropriateness  in  the  fact  that 
almost  the  first  writer  to  use  it  was  James  I.  It  is  for 
effectless.  I  never  heard  of  a  week-end  till  I  paid  a  visit 
to  Lancashire  in  1883.  It  has  long^  since  invaded  the 
whole  island.     An  old  geezer  has  a  modern  sound,  but 


WORDS  DUE  TO  ACCIDENT  13 

it  is  the  medieval  guiser^  gutsard,  mummer,  which  has 
persisted  in  dialect  and  re-entered  the  language. 

The  fortunes  of  a  word  are  sometimes  determined 
by  accident.  Glamour  (see  p.  145)  was  popularised  by 
Scott,  who  found  it  in  old  ballad  literature.  Graily 
the  holy  dish  at  the  Last  Supper,  would  be  much  less 
familiar  but  for  Tennyson.  Mascot^  from  a  Provencal 
word  meaning  sorcerer,  dates  from  Audran's  operetta 
La  Mascotte  (1880).  Jingo  first  appears  in  conjurors' 
jargon  of  the  17th  century.  It  has  been  conjectured 
to  represent  Basque  jinko,  God,  picked  up  by  sailors. 
If  this  is  the  case,  it  is  probably  the  only  pure  Basque 
word  in  English.  The  Ingoldsby  derivation  from  St 
Gengulphus — 

"Sometimes    styled     'The    Living  Jingo^^    from    the    great 
tenaciousness  of  vitality  exhibited  by  his  severed  members," 

is  of  course  a  joke.  In  1878,  when  war  with  Russia 
seemed  imminent,  a  music-hall  singer,  the  Great 
Macdermott,  delighted  large  audiences  with — 

"We  don't  want  to  fight,  but,  "^y  Jingo ^  if  we  do. 
We've  got  the  ships,  we've  got  the  men,  we've  got  the 
money  too." 

Hence  the  name  jingo  applied  to  that  ultra-patriotic 
section  of  the  population  which,  in  war-time,  attends  to 
the  shouting.^  Fr.  chauviit,  a  jingo,  is  the  name  of 
a  real  Napoleonic  veteran  introduced  into  Scribe's  play 
Le  Soldat  Laboureur.  Barracking  is  known  to  us  only 
through  the  visits  of  English  cricket  teams  to  Australia. 
It  is  said  to  come  from  a  native  Australian  word 
meaning  derision.  The  American  caucus  was  first 
applied  (1878)  by  Lord  Beaconsfield  to  the  Birming- 
ham Six  Hundred.    In  18th-century  American  it  means 

^  The  credit  of  first  using  the  word  in  the  political  sense  is  claimed  both 
for  George  Jacob  Holyoake  and  Professor  Minto. 


14  OUR  VOCABULARY 

meeting  or  discussion.  It  is  probably  connected  with  a 
North  American  Indian  (Algonkin)  word  meaning  coun- 
sellor, an  etymology  supported  by  that  of  pow-wow^  a 
palaver  or  confab,  which  is  the  Algonkin  for  a  medicine- 
man. With  these  words  may  be  mentioned  Tammany^ 
now  used  of  a  corrupt  political  body,  but,  in  the  i8th 
century,  of  a  society  named  after  the  tutelar  saint  of 
Pennsylvania.  The  original  Tammany  was  an  Indian 
chief  with  whom  William  Penn  negotiated  for  grants 
of  land  about  the  end  of  the  17th  century.  Littoral 
first  became  familiar  in  connection  with  Italy's  ill- 
starred  Abyssinian  adventure,  and  hinterland  marks 
the  appearance  of  Germany  as  a  colonial  power — 

"*Let  us  glance  a  moment,' said  Mr  Queed,  *at  Man,  as  we 
see  him  first  emerging  from  the  dark  hinterlands  of  history.' " 

(H.  S.  Harrison,  Queed^  Ch.  17.) 

Sometimes    the    blunder    of  a    great    writer    has 
enriched  the  language.     Scott's  bartisan — 

"  Its  varying  circle  did  combine 
Bulwark,  and  bartisan^  and  line 
And  bastion,  tower  ..."  {Marmion^  vi.  2.) 

is  a  mistake  for  bratticing^  timber-work,  a  word  of 
obscure  origin  of  which  several  corruptions  are  found 
in  early  Scottish.  It  is  rather  a  favourite  with  writers  of 
"  sword  and  feather  "  novels.  Other  sham  antiques  are 
slug-horn^  Chatterton's  absurd  perversion  of  the  Gaelic 
slogan^  war-cry,  copied  by  Browning— 

"  Dauntless  the  slug-horn  to  my  lips  I  set. 
And  blew  '  Childe  Roland  to  the  Dark  Tower  came.' " 

and  Scott's  extraordinary  misuse  of  warison^  security,  a 
doublet  oi garrison^  as  though  it  meant  "  war  sound  " — 

"  Or  straight  they  sound  their  waHson^ 
And  storm  and  spoil  thy  garrison."        {Lay^  iv,  21.) 


BLUNDERS  15 

Scott  also  gave  currency  to  niddering^  a  coward — 

"  Faithless,  mansworn/  and  mddering.'" 

{Ivanhoe^  Ch.  42.) 

which  has  been  copied  by  Lytton  and  Kingsley,  and 
elaborated  into  nidderling  by  Mr  Crockett.  It  is  a 
misprint  in  an  early  edition  of  William  of  Malmesbury 
for  Hiding  or  nz things  cognate  with  Ger.  Neid^  envy. 
This  word,  says  Camden,  is  mightier  than  Abracadabra? 
since — 

"  It  hath  levied  armies  and  subdued  rebellious  enemies.  For 
when  there  was  a  dangerous  rebellion  against  King  William  Rufus, 
and  Rochester  Castle,  then  the  most  important  and  strongest  fort 
of  this  realm,  was  stoutly  kept  against  him,  after  that  he  had  but 
proclaimed  that  his  subjects  should  repair  thither  to  his  camp,  upon 
no  other  penalty,  but  that  whosoever  should  refuse  to  come  should 
be  reputed  a  niding^  they  swarmed  to  him  immediately  from  all 
sides  in  such  numbers  that  he  had  in  a  few  days  an  infinite  army, 
and  the  rebels  therewith  were  so  terrified  that  they  forthwith 
yielded."     {Remains  concerning  Britai?t.) 

Derring-do  is  used  several  times  by  Spenser,  who 
explains  it  as  "manhood  and  chevalrie."  It  is  due 
to  his  misunderstanding  of  a  passage  in  Lidgate,  in 
which  it  is  an  imitation  of  Chaucer,  complicated  by  a 
misprint.     Scott  took  it  from  Spenser — 

"  *  Singular,'  he  again  muttered  to  himself,  *  if  there  be  two  who 
can  do  a  deed  of  such  derring-do.' "    {Ivanhoe^  Ch.  29.) 

and  from  him  it  passed  to  Bulwer  Lytton  and  later 
writers. 

1  From  Anglo-Sax.  man^  deceit,  cognate  with  the  first  syllable  of  Ger. 
Meineidy  perjury. 

2  This  word,  which  looks  like  an  unsuccessful  palindrome,  belongs  to 
the  language  of  medieval  magic.  It  seems  to  be  artifidlally  elaborated  from 
i^pa^ds,  a  word  of  Persian  origin  used  by  a  sect  of  Greek  gnostics.  Its 
letters  make  up  the  magic  number  365,  supposed  to  represent  the  number 
of  spirits  subject  to  the  supreme  being. 


16  OUR  VOCABULARY 

Such  words  as  these,  the  illegitimate  offspring  of 
genius,  are  to  be  distinguished  from  the  "  ghost-words  " 
which  dimly  haunt  the  dictionaries  without  ever  having 
lived  (see  p.  201).  Speaking  generally,  we  may  say  that 
no  word  is  ever  created  de  novo.  The  names  invented 
for  commercial  purposes  are  not  exceptions  to  this  law. 
Bovril  is  compounded  of  Lat  bos^  ox,  and  vril}  the 
mysterious  power  which  plays  so  important  a  part  in 
Lytton's  Coming  Race,  ^h.\\e.  Tono-Bungay  suggests  tonic. 
The  only  exception  to  this  is  gas,  the  arbitrary  coinage 
of  the  Belgian  chemist  Van  Helmont  in  the  17th 
century.  But  even  this  is  hardly  a  new  creation, 
because  we  have  Van  Helmont's  own  statement  that 
the  word  chaos  was  vaguely  present  to  his  mind. 
Chortle  has,  however,  secured  a  limited  currency,  and  is 
admitted  by  the  New  English  Dictionary — 

"  O  frabjous  day  !  Callooh  !  callay  I 
He  chortled  in  his  joy." 

{Through  the  Looktng-Glass.) 

and,  though  an  accurate  account  of  the  boojum  is  lacking, 
most  people  know  it  to  be  a  dangerous  variety  of  snark. 

*  In  coining  vril  Lytton  probably  had  in  mind  Lat.  vis,  vires,  power, 
or  the  adjective  virilis. 


CHAPTER   II 

WANDERINGS   OF   WORDS 

In  assigning  to  a  word  a  foreign  origin,  it  is  necessary 
to  show  how  contact  between  the  two  languages  has 
taken  place,  or  the  particular  reasons  which  have 
brought  about  the  borrowing.  A  Chinese  word  cannot 
suddenly  make  its  appearance  in  Anglo-Saxon,  though 
it  may  quite  well  do  so  in  modern  English.  No 
nautical  terms  have  reached  us  from  the  coast  of 
Bohemia  ( Winter's  Tale^  iii.  3),  nor  is  the  vocabulary  of 
the  wine  trade  enriched  by  Icelandic  words.  Although 
we  have  words  from  all  the  languages  of  Europe,  our 
direct  borrowings  from  some  of  them  have  been  small. 
The  majority  of  High  German  words  in  English  have 
passed  through  Old  French,  and  we  have  taken  little 
from  modern  German.  On  the  other  hand,  commerce 
has  introduced  a  great  many  words  from  the  old  Low 
German  dialects  of  the  North  Sea  and  the  Baltic. 

The  Dutch  ^  element  in  English  supplies  a  useful 
object  lesson  on  the  way  in  which  the  borrowing  of 
words  naturally  takes  place.  As  a  great  naval  power, 
the  Dutch  have  contributed  to  our  nautical  vocabulary 
a  number  of  words,  many  of  which  are  easily  recognised 
as    near    relations;    such    are    boom    (beam),    skipper 

*  This  includes  Flemish,  spoken  in  a  hiige  part  of  Belgium  and  in  the 
North  East  of  France. 

17  B 


^^^ 


18  WANDERINGS  OF  WORDS 

(shipper),  orlop  (over  leap),  the  name  given  to  a  deck 
which  "  over-runs  "  the  ship's  hold.  Yacht^  properly  a 
"hunting"  ship,  is  cognate  with  Ger.  Jagd^  hunting,  but 
has  no  English  kin.  Hexham  has  jaght^  "  zee-roovers 
schip,  pinace,  or  pirats  ship."  The  modern  Dutch 
spelling  is  jacht  We  should  expect  to  find  art  terms 
from  the  country  of  Hobbema,  Rubens,  Vandyke,  etc. 
See  easel  (p.  39),  etch  (p.  133),  lay-figure  (p.  166),  sketch 
(p.  22).  Landscape^  earlier  landskip,  has  the  suffix  which 
in  English  would  be  -ship.  In  the  i6th  century  Camden 
speaks  of  "  a  landskip,  as  they  call  it."  The  Low 
Countries  were  for  two  centuries  the  cock-pit  of  Europe, 
and  many  military  terms  were  brought  back  to  England 
by  Dugald  Dalgetty  and  the  armies  which  "swore 
terribly  in  Flanders."  Such  are  cashier  {p.  \^j\  forlorn 
hope  (p.  129),  tattoo  (p.  162).  Other  interesting  military 
words  are  leaguer  (lair),  recently  re-introduced  from 
South  Africa  as  laager^  and  furlough.  The  latter  word, 
formerly  pronounced  to  rime  with  cough,  is  from  Du. 
verlof  (for  leave)  ;  cf.  archaic  Ger.  Verlaub,  now  replaced 
by  Urlaub.  Knapsack}  a  food  sack,  comes  from  colloquial 
Du.  knap,  food,  or  what  the  Notts  colliers  call  snap. 
We  also  find  it  called  a  snapsack.  Both  knap  and  snap 
contain  the  idea  of  "crunching" — 

"I  would  she  (Report)  were  as  lying  a  gossip  in  that  as  ever 
knapped %mgQ^r."    {Merchant  of  Venice,  iii.  i.) 

Roster  (roaster)  is  the  Dutch  for  gridiron,  the  allusion 
being  to  the  parallel  lines  of  the  list  or  plan;  for  a 
somewhat  similar  metaphor  cf.  cancel  (p.  88).  The 
pleasant  fiction  that — 

"  The  children  of  Holland  take  pleasure  in  making 
What  the  children  of  England  take  pleasure  in  breaking," 

confirms  the  derivation  of  toy  from  Du.  tuig,  implement, 

1  Haversack^  oat-sack,  comes  through  French  from  German. 


DISAPPEARANCE  OF  CELTIC  19 

thing,  stuff,  etc.,  a  word,  like  its  German  cognate 
Zeug^  with  an  infinity  of  meanings.  We  now  limit  toy 
to  the  special  sense  represented  by  Du.  speel-tuig\ 
play-thing. 

Our  vocabulary  dealing  with  war  and  fortification  is 
chiefly  French,  but  most  of  the  French  terms  come  from 
Italian.  Addison  wrote  an  article  in  No.  165  of  the 
Spectator  ridiculing  the  Frenchified  character  of  the 
military  language  of  his  time,  and,  in  the  i6th  century, 
Henri  Estienne,  patriot,  printer,  and  philologist, 
lamented  that  future  historians  would  believe,  from  the 
vocabulary  employed,  that  France  had  learnt  the  art  of 
war  from  Italy.  As  a  matter  of  fact  she  did.  The 
earliest  writers  on  the  new  tactics  necessitated  by 
villainous  saltpetre  were  Italians  trained  in  condottiere 
warfare.  They  were  followed  by  the  great  French 
theorists  and  engineers  of  the  i6th  and  17th  centuries,  "  / 
who  naturally  adopted  a  large  number  of  Italian  terms 
which  thus  passed  later  into  English. 

A  considerable  number  of  Spanish  and  Portuguese 
words  have  reached  us  in  a  very  roundabout  way  (see 
pp.  23-7).  This  is  not  surprising  when  we  consider  how 
in  the  15th  and  i6th  centuries  the  world  was  dotted  with 
settlements  due  to  the  Portuguese  and  Spanish  adven- 
turers who  had  a  hundred  years'  start  of  our  own. 

There  are  very  few  Celtic  words  either  in  English  or 
French.     In   each  country  the  result  of  conquest  was,  ^ 

from  the  point  of  view  of  language,  complete.  A  few 
words  from  the  Celtic  languages  have  percolated  into 
English  in  comparatively  recent  times,  but  many  terms 
which  we  associate  with  the  picturesque  Highlanders 
are  not  Gaelic  at  all.^  Tartan  comes  through  French 
from   the    Tartars  (see   p.  47) ;  kilt  is  a  Scandinavian 

^  This  applies  also  to  some  of  the  clan  names,  e.g.,  Macpherson^  son  of  the 
parson,  Macnab^  son  of  the  abbot, 


20  WANDERINGS  OF  WORDS 

verb,  "  to  tuck  up,"  and  dirk}  of  unknown  origin,  first 
appears  about  1600.     For  treivs  see  p.  117. 

A  very  interesting  part  of  our  vocabulary,  the 
^^;2//;^^,  or  rogues',  language,  dates  mostly  from  the  17th 
and  1 8th  centuries,  and  includes  contributions  from  most 
of  the  European  languages,  together  with  a  large  Romany 
element.  The  early  dictionary  makers  paid  great  atten- 
tion to  this  aspect  of  the  language.  Elisha  Coles,  who 
published  a  fairly  complete  English  dictionary  in  1676, 
says  in  his  preface,  "'Tis  no  disparagement  to  understand 
the  canting  terms :  it  may  chance  to  save  your  throat  from 
being  cut,  or  (at  least),  your  pocket  from  being  pick'd." 

Words  often  go  long  journeys.  Boss  is  in  English 
a  comparatively  modern  Americanism.  But,  like  many 
American  words,  it  belongs  to  the  language  of  the  Dutch 
settlers  who  founded  New  Amsterdam  (New  York).  It 
is  Du.  baaSy  master,  which  has  thus  crossed  the  Atlantic 
twice  on  its  way  from  Holland  to  England.  A  number 
of  Dutch  words  have  become  familiar  to  us  in  recent  years 
in  consequence  of  the  South  African  war.  One  of  them, 
slim^  'cute,  seems  to  have  been  definitely  adopted.  It  is 
cognate  with  Ger.  schlimm^  bad,  and  Eng.  slim^  slender, 
and  the  latter  word  has  for  centuries  been  used  in  the 
Eastern  counties  in  the  very  sense  in  which  it  has  now 
been  re-introduced. 

Apricot  is  a  much  travelled  word.  It  comes  to  us 
from  Fr.  abricot^  while  the  Shakespearean  apricock — 

**  Feed  him  with  apricocks  and  dewberries." 

{Midsummer  Nighfs  Dream,  iii.  i.) 

represents  the  Spanish  or  Portuguese  form.  Ger. 
Aprikose  comes,   via   Dutch,  from   the   French   plural. 

*  My  own  conviction  is  that  it  is  identical  with  Dan.  dirik^  dirk^  a  pick- 
lock* See  Dietrich  (p.  42).  An  implement  used  for  opening  an  enemy  may 
well  have  been  named  in  this  way.  Cf.  Du.  opsieeker  (up  sticker),  *'  a  pick- 
lock, a  great  knife,  or  a  dagger  "  (Sewel,  1727). 


ARABIC  TRADE  WORDS  21 

The  word  was  adopted  into  the  Romance  languages 
from  Arab,  al-bargug,  where  al  is  the  definite  article 
{cf.  examples  on  p.  115),  while  barkok  comes,  through 
medieval  Greek,  from  Vulgar  Lat.  prcecoquum^  for 
prcecox^  early-ripe.  Thus  the  word  first  crossed  the 
Adriatic,  passed  on  to  Asia  Minor  or  the  North  coast 
of  Africa,  and  then  travelling  along  the  Mediterranean 
re-entered  Southern  Europe, 

Many  other  Arabic  trade  words  have  a  similar  history. 
Carat  comes  to  us,  through  French,  from  Italian  carato, 
"a  waight  or  degree  called  a  caraci"  (Florio).  The 
Italian  word  is  from  Arabic,  but  the  Arabic  form  is  a 
corruption  of  Gk,  Kepdriov,  fruit  of  the  locust  tree,  lit.  little 
horn,  also  used  of  a  small  weight.  The  verb  to  garble, 
now  used  only  of  confusing  or  falsifying,^  meant  origin- 
ally to  sort  or  sift,  especially  spices — 

"  Garbler  of  spices  is  an  officer  of  great  antiquity  in  the  city  of 
London,  who  may  enter  into  any  shop,  warehouse,  etc.,  to  view 
and  search  drugs,  spices,  etc.,  and  to  garble  the  same  and  make 
them  clean."     (Cowel's  Interpreter,) 

It  represents  Span,  garbellar,  from  garbello,  a  sieve. 
This  comes  from  Arab,  ghirbdl,  a  sieve,  borrowed 
from  Lat  cribellum^  diminutive  of  cribrum.  Quintal, 
an  old  word  for  hundred-weight,  looks  as  if  it  had 
something  to  do  with  five.  Fr.  and  Span,  quintal  are 
from  Arab,  qintar,  hundred-weight,  which  is  Lat.  cen- 
tenarium  (whence  directly  Ger.  Zentner,  hundred-weight). 
The  French  word  passed  into  Dutch,  and  gave,  with  a 
diminutive  ending,  kindekijn,  now  replaced  by  kinnetje, 
a  firkin.2     We  have  adopted  it  as  kilderkin,  but  have 

1  "It  was  a  wholly  garbled  versiozi  of  what  never  took  place"  (Mr 
Birrell,  in  the  House,  26th  Oct.  191 1).  The  bull  appears  to  be  a  laudable 
concession  to  Irish  national  feeling. 

"^  Formerly  ferdekin^  a  derivative  of  Du.  vierde^  fourth ;  cf.  farthing^  a 
little  fourth. 

B  2 


22  WANDERINGS  OF  WORDS 

doubled  its  capacity.  With  these  examples  of  words 
that  have  passed  through  Arabic  may  be  mentioned 
talisman^  not  a  very  old  word  in  Europe,  from  Arab. 
tilsam^  magic  picture,  ultimately  from  Gk.  reXeiv,  to 
initiate  into  mysteries,  lit  to  accomplish,  and  effendi,  a 
Turkish  corruption  of  Gk.  avOevrrj^y  a  master,  cognate 
with  authentic. 

Hussar  seems  to  be  a  late  Latin  word  which 
passed  into  Greece  and  then  entered  Central  Europe 
via  the  Balkans.  It  comes  into  16th-century  German 
from  Hungar.  hussar ^  freebooter.  This  is  from  a 
Servian  word  which  means  also  pirate.  It  represents 
medieval  Gk.  Kovpcrdpio^i  a  transliteration  of  Vulgar  Lat. 
cursariuSf  from  currere^  to  run,  which  occurs  also 
with  the  sense  of  pirate  in  medieval  Latin.  Hussar 
is  thus  a  doublet  of  corsair.  The  immediate  source 
of  sketch  is  Du.  schets^  "draught  of  any  picture" 
(Hexham),  from  Ital.  schizzo^  "an  ingrosement  or 
first  rough  draught  of  anything "  (Florio),  whence  also 
Fr.  esquisse  and  Ger.  Skizze.  The  Italian  word 
represents  Greco-Lat.  schedium^  an  extempore  effort. 

Assassin  and  slave  are  of  historic  interest. 
Assassin^  though  not  very  oW  in  English,  dates  from 
the  Crusades.  Its  oldest  European  form  is  Ital. 
assassinoy  and  it  was  adopted  into  French  in  the 
i6th  century.  Henri  Estienne,  whose  fiery  patriotism 
entered  even  into  philological  questions,  reproaches  his 
countrymen  for  using  foreign  terms.  They  should 
only  adopt,  he  says,  Italian  words  which  express 
Italian  qualities  hitherto  unknown  to  the  French,  such 
as  assassin,  charlatan^poltron  !  Assassin  is  f  eally  a  plural, 
from  the  hachaschin,  eaters  of  the  drug  haschish,  who 
executed  the  decrees  of  the  Old  Man  of  the  Mountains. 
It  was  one  of  these  who  stabbed  Edward  Longshanks 
at  Acre.     The  first  slaves  were  captive  Slavonians,     We 


COW-BOY  WORDS  23 

find  the  word  in  most  of  the  European  languages. 
The  fact  that  none  of  the  Western  tribes  of  the  race 
called  themselves  Slavs  or  Slavonians  shows  that 
the  word  could  not  have  entered  Europe  via  Germany, 
where  the  Slavs  were  called  Wends.  It  must  have 
come  from  the  Byzantine  empire  via  Italy. 

Some  Spanish  words  have  also  come  to  us  by  the 
indirect  route.  The  cocoa  which  is  grateful  and  com- 
forting was  formerly  spelt  cacao^  as  in  Prench  and 
German.  It  is  a  Mexican  word.  The  cocoa  of  cocoa-nut 
is  for  cocOy  a  Spanish  baby-word  for  an  ugly  face  or 
bogie-man.  The  black  marks  at  one  end  of  the  nut 
give  it,  especially  before  the  removal  of  the  fibrous 
husk,  some  resemblance  to  a  ferocious  face.  Stevens 
(1706)  explains  coco  as  "  the  word  us'd  to  fright  children ; 
as  we  say  the  Bulbeggar." 

Mustang  seems  to  represent  two  words,  mestengo 
y  mostrenco^  "  a  straier  "  (Percyvall).  The  first  appears 
to  be  connected  with  mestay  "a  monthly  fair  among 
herdsmen;  also,  the  laws  to  be  observed  by  all  that 
keep  or  deal  in  cattle "  (Stevens),  and  the  second  with 
mostrar^  to  show,  the  finder  being  expected  to  advertise 
a  stray.  The  original  mustangs  were  of  course 
descended  from  the  strayed  horses  of  the  Spanish 
conquistadors.  Ranch^  Span.  ranchOy  a  row  (of  huts),  is 
a  doublet  of  rank^  from  Fr.  rang^  Old  Fr.  reng^  Old 
High  Ger.  hring,  a  ring.  Thus  what  is  now  usually 
straight  was  once  circular,  the  ground  idea  of  dLvrange- 
ment  surviving.  Another  doublet  is  Fr.  harangue^  due 
to  the  French  inability  to  pronounce  hr-  (see  p.  55),  a 
speech  delivered  in  the  ring.  ^^  also  Ital.  aringo/^di. 
riding  or  carreering  place,  a  liste  for  horses,  or  feates 
of  armes :  a  declamation,  an  oration,  a  noise,  a  common 
loud  speech  "  (Florio),  in  which  the  "  ring  "  idea  is  also 
prominent. 


24  WANDERINGS  OF  WORDS 

Other  "cow-boy"  words  of  Spanish  origin  are  the 
less  familiar  cinch,  girth  of  a  horse,  Span,  cincha,  from 
Lat.  cingulay  also  used  metaphorically — 

"The  state  of  the  elements  enabled  Mother  Nature  'to  get  a 
cinch^  on  an  honourable  aestheticism."     (Snaith,  Mrs  Fitz,  Ch.  i.) 

and  the  formidable  riding-whip  called  a  quirty  Span, 
cuerda,  cord.  We  have  the  same  transference  of  mean- 
ing in  Span,  reata,  a  rope,  from  the  verb  reatar^  to  bind 
together,  Lat.  re-aptare.  This  means  a  tethering  rope 
in  Bret  Harte,  but  in  contemporary  novels  of  Cali- 
fornian  life  it  is  used  for  a  whip.  Combined  with 
the  definite  article  [la  reatd)  it  has  given  lariat^  a 
familiar  word  in  literature  of  the  Buffalo  Bill  char- 
acter. LassOy  Span,  lazo,  Lat.  laqueus,  snare,  is  a 
doublet  of  Eng.  lace. 

When,  in  the  Song  of  Hiawatha — 

"  Gitche  Manito,  the  mighty, 
Smoked  the  calumet^  the  Peace-pipe, 
As  a  signal  to  the  nations," 

he  was  using  an  implement  with  a  French  name. 
Calumet  is  an  Old  Norman  word  for  chalumeaii,  reed, 
pipe,  a  diminutive  from  Lat.  calamus.  It  was  naturally 
applied  by  early  French  voyagers  to  the  "long  reed 
for  a  pipe-stem."  Eng.  shawm  is  the  same  word 
without  the  diminutive  ending.  Another  Old  French 
word,  once  common  in  English,  but  now  found  only 
in  dialect,  is  felon,  a  whitlow.  It  is  used  more  than 
once  by  Mr  Hardy — 

"  I've  been  visiting  to  Bath  because  I  had  a  felon  on  my 
thumb."    {Far from  the  Madding  Crowd,  Ch.  33.) 

This  is  still  an  every-day  word  in  Canada  and  the 
United  States.     It  is  a  metaphorical  use  of  felon^  a  fell 


PORTUGUESE  WORDS  25 

villain.  A  whitlow  was  called  in  Latin  funmculus,  "  a 
little  theefe;  a  sore  in  the  bodie  called  a  fellon" 
(Cooper),  whence  Fr.  furoncle^  or  froncle,  "  the  hot  and 
hard  bumpe,  or  swelling,  tearmed,  a  fellon''  (Cotgrave). 
Another  Latin  name  for  it  was  iagax^  "  a  felon  on  a 
man's  finger"  (Cooper),  lit.  thievish.  One  of  its 
Spanish  names  is  padrastro^  lit.  step-father.  I  am  told 
that  an  "  agnail "  was  formerly  called  a  "  step-mother  " 
in  Yorkshire.  This  is  a  good  example  of  the  semantic 
method  in  etymology  (see  pp.  99-104). 

Some  of  the  above  instances  show  how  near  to  home 
we  can  often  track  a  word  which  at  first  sight  appears 
to  belong  to  another  continent.  This  is  still  more 
strikingly  exemplified  in  the  case  of  Portuguese  words, 
which  have  an  almost  uncanny  way  of  pretending  to 
be  African  or  Indian.  Some  readers  will,  I  think,  be 
surprised  to  hear  that  assegai  occurs  in  Chaucer,  though 
in  a  form  not  easily  recognisable.  It  is  a  Berber  word 
which  passed  through  Spanish  and  Portuguese  into 
French  and  English.  We  find  Fr.  archegaie  in  the 
14th  century,  azagaie  in  Rabelais,  and  the  modern  form 
zagaie  in  Cotgrave,  who  describes  it  as  "a  fashion  of 
slender,  long,  and  long-headed  pike,  used  by  the 
Moorish  horsemen."  In  Mid.  English  V archegaie  was 
corrupted  by  folk-etymology  (see  p.  115)  into  lancegay^ 
launcegay^  the  form  used  by  Chaucer — 

"  He  worth  upon  his  stede  gray, 
And  in  his  hond  a  launcegay, 
A  long  swerd  by  his  syde." 

{Sir  Thopas,  1.  40.) 

The  use  of  this  weapon  was  prohibited  by  statute  in 
1406,  hence  the  early  disappearance  of  the  word. 

Another  "  Zulu "  word  which  has  travelled  a  long 
way  is  kraal.     This  is  a  contracted  Dutch  form  from 


26  WANDERINGS  OF  WORDS 

Port,  curral^  a  sheepfold  {cf.  Span,  corral,  a  pen,  enclosure). 
Both  assegai  and  kraal  were  taken  to  South  East  Africa 
by  the  Portuguese  and  then  adopted  by  the  Boers  and 
Kafirs.^  Sjambok  occurs  in  17th-century  accounts  of 
India  in  the  form  chawbuck.  It  is  a  Persian  word, 
spelt  chabouk  by  Moore,  in  Lalla  Rookh.  It  was 
adopted  by  the  Portuguese  as  chabuco^  "  in  the 
Portuguese  India,  a  whip  or  scourge  "  ^  (Vieyra,  Port. 
Dict.y  1794).  Fetish^  an  African  idol,  first  occurs  in  the 
records  of  the  early  navigators,  collected  and  published 
by  Purchas  and  Hakluyt.  It  is  the  Port,  feitigo,  Lat. 
factitius,  artificial,  applied  by  the  Portuguese  explorers 
to  the  graven  images  of  the  heathen.  The  correspond- 
ing Old  Fr.  faitis  is  rather  a  complimentary  adjective, 
and  everyone  remembers  the  lady  in  Chaucer  who 
spoke  French  fairly  and  fetousli.  Palaver^  also  a 
travellers'  word  from  the  African  coast,  is  Vovt.palavra^ 
word,  speech,  Greco- Lat.  parabola.  It  is  thus  a  doublet 
oi  parole  s.nd  parable,  and  is  related  to  parley.  Ayah,  an 
Indian  nurse,  is  Port,  aia,  nurse,  of  unknown  origin. 
Caste  is  Port  casta,  pure,  and  a  doublet  of  chaste.  Tank, 
an  Anglo-Indian  word  of  which  the  meaning  has 
narrowed  in  this  country,  is  Port,  tanque,  a  pool  or 
cistern,  Lat.  stagnum,  whence  Old  Fr.  estang  (Jtang) 
and  provincial  Eng.  stank,  a  dam,  or  a  pond  banked 
round.  Cobra  is  the  Portuguese  for  snake,  cognate 
with  Fr.  couleuvre,  Lat.  coluber  (see  p.  7).  We  use  it 
as  an  abbreviation  for  cobra  de  capello,  hooded  snake, 
the  second  part  of  which  is  identical  with  Fr.  chapeau 
and  cognate  with  cape^  chapel  (p.  152),  chaplet^  a  garland, 

1  Kafir  (Arab.)  means  infidel. 

^  Eng.  chawbuck  is  used  in  connection  with  the  punishment  we  call  the 
bastinado.  This  is  a  corruption  of  Span,  bastonada,  •*  a  stroke  with  a  club 
or  staff"  (Stevens,  1706).  On  the  other  hand,  we  extend  the  meaning  of 
drub,  the  Arabic  word  for  bastinado,  to  a  beating  of  any  kind. 


GORILLA— SILK  27 

and  c/iaperon,  Si"  protecting"  hood.  From  still  further 
afield  than  India  comes  joss,  a  Chinese  god,  a  corruption 
of  Port,  deos,  Lat.  deus.  Even  mandarin  comes  from 
Portuguese,  and  not  Chinese,  but  it  is  an  Eastern 
word,  of  Hindoo  and  Malay  origin. 

The  word  gorilla  is  perhaps  African,  but  more  than 
two  thousand  years  separate  its  first  appearance  from 
its  present  use.  In  the  5  th  or  6th  century,  B.C.,  a 
Carthaginian  navigator  named  Hanno  sailed  beyond 
the  Pillars  of  Hercules  along  the  west  coast  of  Africa. 
He  probably  followed  very  much  the  same  route  as  Sir 
Richard  Dalyngridge  and  Saxon  Hugh  when  they 
voyaged  with  Witta  the  Viking.  He  wrote  in  Punic  a 
record  of  his  adventures,  which  was  received  with 
the  incredulity  usually  accorded  to  travellers'  tales. 
Among  the  wonders  he  encountered  were  some  hairy 
savages  called  gorillas.  His  work  was  translated  into 
Greek  and  later  on  into  several  European  languages, 
so  that  the  word  became  familiar  to  naturalists.  In 
1847  it  was  applied  to  the  giant  ape,  which  had  recently 
been  described  by  explorers. 

The  origin  of  the  word  silk  is  a  curious  problem. 
It  is  usually  explained  as  from  Greco-Lat.  sericum,  a 
name  derived  from  an  Eastern  people  called  the  Seres, 
presumably  the  Chinese.  It  appears  in  Anglo-Saxon 
as  seolc.  Now,  at  that  early  period,  words  of  Latin 
origin  came  to  us  by  the  overland  route  and  left  traces 
of  their  passage.  But  all  the  Romance  languages  use 
for  silk  a  name  derived  from  Lat.  sceta,  bristle,  and 
this  name  has  penetrated  even  into  German  {Seide)  and 
Dutch  (zijde).  The  derivatives  of  sericum  stand  for 
another  material,  serge.  Nor  can  it  be  assumed  that 
the  r  of  the  Latin  word  would  have  become  in  English 
always  /and  never  r.  There  are  races  which  cannot 
sound  the  letter  r,  but  we  are  not  one  of  them.     As  the 


28  WANDERINGS  OF  WORDS 

word  silk  is  found  also  in  Old  Norse,  Swedish,  Danish, 
and  Old  Slavonian,  the  natural  inference  is  that  it  must 
have  reached  us  along  the  north  of  Europe,  and,  if 
derived  from  sericum^  it  must,  somewhere  in  Asia,  have 
passed  through  a  dialect  which  had  no  r. 


I 


CHAPTER   III 

WORDS  OF   POPULAR   MANUFACTURE 

In  a  sense,  all  nomenclature,  apart  from  purely  scientific 
language,  is  popular.  But  real  meanings  are  often  so 
rapidly  obscured  that  words  become  mere  labels  and 
cease  to  call  up  the  image  or  the  poetic  idea  with  which 
they  were  first  associated.  To  take  a  simple  instance, 
how  many  people  realise  that  the  daisy  is  the  "day's 
eye  "  ?— 

"  Wele  by  reson  men  it  calle  may 
The  dayeseye  or  ellis  the  '  eye  of  day.' " 
(Chaucer,  Legend  of  Good  Women^  Prol.,  1.  184.) 

In  studying  that  part  of  our  vocabulary  which  especially 
illustrates  the  tendencies  shown  in  popular  name-giving, 
one  is  struck  by  the  keen  observation  and  imaginative 
power  shown  by  our  far-off  ancestors,  and  the  lack  of 
these  qualities  in  later  ages. 

Perhaps  in  no  part  of  the  language  does  this  appear 
so  clearly  as* in  the  names  of  plants  and  flowers.  The 
most  primitive  way  of  naming  a  flower  is  from  some 
observed  resemblance,  and  it  is  curious  to  notice  the 
parallelism  of  this  process  in  various  languages.  Thus 
our  crowfoot ^  crane's  bill,  larkspur ,  monkshood,  snap- 
dragon, are  in  German  Hahnenfuss  (cock's  foot),  Storch- 
schnabel {stork's  bill),  Rittersporn  (knight's  spur),  Eisenhut 
29 


30      WORDS  OF  POPULAR  MANUFACTURE 

(iron  hat),  Lowenmaul  (lion's  mouth).  I  have  purposely] 
chosen  instances  in  which  the  correspondence  is  n 
absolute,  because  examples  like  Ldwenzahn  (lion's' 
tooth),  dandelion  (Fr.  dent  de  lion)  may  be  suspected 
of  being  mere  translations.  I  give  the  names  in  most 
general  use,  but  the  provincial  variants  are  numerous, 
though  usually  of  the  same  type.  The  French  names  of 
the  flowers  mentioned  are  still  more  like  the  English. 
The  more  learned  words  which  sometimes  replace  the 
above  are,  though  now  felt  as  mere  symbols,  of  similar 
origin,  e.g.,  geranium  and  pelargonium^  used  for  the 
cultivated  crane's  bill^  are  derived  from  the  Greek  for 
crane  and  stork  respectively.  So  also  in  chelidonium^ 
whence  our  celandine  or  swallow-wort^  we  have  the  Greek 
for  swallow. 

In  the  English  names  of  plants  we  observe  various 
tendencies  of  the  popular  imagination.  We  have  the 
crudeness  of  cowslip  for  earlier  cow  slop  y  cow-dung,  and 
many  old  names  of  unquotable  coarseness,  the  quaint- 
ness  of  Sweet  William^  lords  and  ladies ^  bcichelors'  buttons, 
dead  men's  fingers,  and  the  exquisite  poetry  of  forget-me- 
not,  hearts  ease,  love  in  a  mist,  traveller's  joy.  There  is 
also  a  special  group  named  from  medicinal  properties, 
such  as  feverfew,  a  doublet  of  febrifuge,  and  tatisy,  Fr. 
tanaisie,  from  Greco- Lat.  athanasia,  immortality.  We 
may  compare  the  learned  saxifrage,  stone-breaker,  of 
which  the  Spanish  doublet  is  sassafras.  The  German 
name  is  Steinbrech. 

There  must  have  been  a  time  when  a  simple 
instinct  for  poetry  was  possessed  by  all  nations,  as  it 
still  is  by  uncivilised  races  and  children.  Among 
European  nations  this  instinct  appears  to  be  dead  for 
ever.  We  can  name  neither  a  mountain  nor  a  flower. 
Our  Mount  Costigan,  Mount  Perry,  Mount  William  cut 
a  sorry  figure  beside  the  peaks  of  the  Bernese  Oberland, 


NAMES  OF  FRUITS  31 

the  Monk,  the  Maiden,  the  Storm  Pike,  the  Dark  Eagle 
Pike.  Occasionally  a  race  which  is  accidentally  brought 
into  closer  contact  with  nature  may  have  a  happy 
inspiration,  such  as  the  Drakenberg  (dragon  mountain) 
or  Weenen  ^  (weeping)  of  the  old  voortrekkers.  But  the 
Cliff  of  the  Falling  Flowers,  the  name  of  a  precipice  over 
which  the  Korean  queens  cast  themselves  to  escape 
dishonour,  represents  an  imaginative  realm  which  is 
closed  to  us.2  The  botanist  who  describes  a  new  flower 
hastens  to  join  the  company  of  Messrs  Dahl^  FuchSy 
Label,  Magnol  and  Wistar,  while  fresh  varieties  are  used 
to  immortalise  a  florist  and  his  family. 

The  names  of  fruits,  perhaps  because  they  lend 
themselves  less  easily  to  imaginative  treatment,  are  even 
duller  than  modern  names  of  flowers.  The  only  English 
names  are  the  ap/}/e  and  the  berry.  New  fruits  either 
retained  their  foreign  names  (cherry ,  peach,  pear,  quince) 
or  were  violently  converted  into  apples  or  berries^ 
usually  the  former.  This  practice  is  common  to  the 
European  languages,  the  apple  being  regarded  as  the 
typical  fruit.  Thus  the  orange  is  usually  called  in 
North  Germany  Apfelsine,  apple  of  China,  with  which 
we  may  compare  our  "  China  orange."  In  South 
Germany  it  was  called  Pomeranze  (now  used  especially 
of  the  Seville  orange),  from  Ital.  pomo,  apple,  arancia^ 
orange.  Fr.  orange  is  folk-etymology  {or,  gold)  for 
*  arange,  from  Arab,  narandj,  whence  Span,  naranja. 
Melon  is  simply  the  Greek  for  "apple,"  and  has  also 
given  us  marmalade,  which  comes,  through  French,  from 
Port,  marmelada^  quince  jam,  a  derivative  of  Greco-Lat. 

*  A  place  where  a  large  number  of  settlers  with  their  wives  and  children 
were  massacred  by  the  Zulus. 

2  "Two  mountains  near  Dublin,  which  we,  keeping  in  the  grocery  line, 
have  called  the  Great  and  the  Little  Sugarloaf,  are  named  in  Irish  the 
Golden  Spears." — (Trench,  On  the  Study  of  Words,") 


32     WORDS  OF  POPULAR  MANUFACTURE 

melimelum^  quince,  lit.  honey-apple.  Pine-apple  meant 
"fir-cone"  as  late  as  the  17th  century,  as  Yr.pomme  de 
pin  still  does.^  The  fruit  was  named  from  its  shape, 
which  closely  resembles  that  of  a  fir-cone.  Pomegranate 
means  "apple  with  seeds."  We  also  find  the  apricot, 
lemon  {pomcitron\  peach,  and  quince  all  described  as 
apples. 

At  least  one  fruit,  the  greengage^  is  named  from  a 
person.  Sir  William  Gage,  a  gentleman  of  Suffolk,  who 
popularised  its  cultivation  early  in  the  i8th  century. 
It  happens  that  the  French  name  of  the  fruit,  reine- 
claude  (pronounced  glaude\  is  also  personal,  from  the 
wife  of  Francis  I. 

Animal  nomenclature  shows  some  strange  vagaries. 
The  resemblance  of  the  hippopotamus^  lit.  river-horse, 
to  the  horse,  hardly  extends  beyond  their  common 
possession  of  four  legs.^  The  lion  would  hardly  recognise 
himself  in  the  ant-lion  or  the  sea-lion^  still  less  in  the 
chameleon^  lit.  earth-lion,  the  first  element  of  which 
occurs  also  in  camomile^  earth-apple.  The  guinea-pig  is 
not  a  pig,  nor  does  it  come  from  Guinea  (see  p.  51). 
Porcupine  means  "spiny  pig."  It  has  an  extraordinary 
number  of  early  variants,  and  Shakespeare  wrote  it  por- 
pentine.  One  Mid.  English  form  was  porkpoint.  The 
French  name  has  hesitated  between  spine  and  spike.  The 
modern  form  is  porc-^pic,  but  Palsgrave  has  ^^ porkepyn  a 
beest,  pore  espin^  Porpoise  is  from  Old  Fr.  porpeis^  for 
pore  pels  {}jqX.  porous  piscis)^  pig-fish.  The  modern  French 
name  is  marsouin^  from  Ger.  Meerschweiny  sea-pig ;  cf. 

^  The  French  name  for  the  fruit  is  ananas^  a  Brazilian  word.  A  vege- 
tarian friend  of  the  writer,  misled  by  the  superficial  likeness  of  this  word  to 
banana^  once  petrified  a  Belgian  waiter  by  ordering  half  a  dozen  for  his  lunch. 

2  A  reader  calls  my  attention  to  the  fact  that,  when  the  hippopotamus 
is  almost  completely  submerged,  the  pointed  ears,  prominent  eyes,  and  large 
nostrils  are  grotesquely  suggestive  of  a  horse's  head.  This  1  have  recently 
verified  at  the  Zoo, 


NICKNAMES  OF  ANIMALS  83 

the  name  sea-hog^  formerly  used  in  English,  Old  Fr. 
peis  survives  also  in  grampus^  Anglo-Fr.  grampais  for 
grand peis^  big  fish,  but  the  usual  Old  French  word  is 
craspeis  or  grasp eiSy  fat  fish. 

The  caterpillar  seems  to  have  suggested  in  turn  a  cat 
and  a  dog.  Our  word  is  corrupted  by  folk-etymology 
from  Old  Fr.  chatepeleuse,  "  a  corne-devouring  mite,  or 
weevell"  (Cotgrave).  This  probably  means  "woolly 
cat,"  just  as  a  common  species  is  popularly  called  woolly 
bear,  but  it  was  understood  as  being  connected  with  the 
French  verb peler,  ''io  pill,  pare,  barke,  unrinde,  unskin" 
(Cotgrave).  The  modern  French  name  for  the  cater- 
pillar is  chenille^  a  derivative  of  Men,  dog.  It  has  also 
been  applied  to  a  fabric  of  a  woolly  nature ;  cf.  the 
botanical  catkin,  which  is  in  French  chaton,  kitten. 

Some  animals  bear  nicknames.  Dotterel  means 
"dotard,"  and  dodo  is  from  the  Port,  doudo,  mad.  Ferret 
is  from  Fr.  fiiret,  a  diminutive  from  Lat.  fur^  thief. 
Shark  was  used  jof  a  sharper  or  greedy  parasite  before 
it  was  applied  to  the  fish.  This,  in  the  records  of  the 
Elizabethan  voyagers,  is  more  often  called  by  its 
Spanish  name  tiburon,  whence  Cape  Tiburon,  in  Haiti. 
The  origin  of  shark  is  unknown,  but  it  appears  to  be 
identical  with  shirks  for  which  we  find  earlier  sherk. 
We  find  Ital.  scrocco  (whence  Fr.  escroc\  Ger.  Schurke^ 
Du.  schurky  rascal,  all  rendered  "shark"  in  early 
dictionaries,  but  the  relationship  of  these  words  is  not 
clear.  The  palmer,  t.e,  pilgrim,  worm  is  so  called  from 
his  wandering  habits.  Ortolan,  the  name  given  by 
Tudor  cooks  to  the  garden  bunting,  means  "gardener" 
(Lat.  hortusy  garden).  It  comes  to  us  through  French 
from  Ital.  ortolano,  "  a  gardener,  an  orchard  keeper.  Also 
a  kinde  of  daintie  birde  in  Italie,  some  take  it  to  be 
the  linnet"  (Florio).  We  may  compare  Fr.  boicvreuil, 
bull- finch,  a  diminutive   of  bouvier^  ox-herd.     This  is 

c 


I 


34     WORDS  OF  POPULAR  MANUFACTURE 

called  in  German  Dompfaffe,  a  contemptuous  name  for 
a  cathedral  canon.  Fr.  moineau^  sparrow,  is  a  diminu- 
tive of  moiney  monk.  The  wagtail  is  called  in  French 
lavandiere^  laundress,  from  the  up  and  down  motion 
of  its  tail  suggesting  the  washerwoman's  beetle,  and 
bergeronnette^  little  shepherdess,  from  its  habit  of  follow- 
ing the  sheep.  Adjutant^  the  nickname  of  the  solemn 
Indian  stork,  is  clearly  due  to  Mr  Atkins,  and  the 
secretary  bird  is  so  named  because  some  of  his  head 
feathers  suggest  a  quill  pen  behind  an  ear. 

The  converse  process  of  people  being  nicknamed 
from  animals  is  also  common  and  the  metaphor  is 
usually  pretty  obvious.  An  interesting  case  is  shrew^ 
a  libel  on  a  very  inoffensive  little  animal,  the  shrew- 
mousey  Anglo-Sax.  screawa.  Cooper  describes  inus 
araneus  as  "  a  kinde  of  mise  called  a  shrew ^  which  if  he 
go  over  a  beastes  backe  he  shall  be  lame  in  the  chyne ; 
if  he  byte  it  swelleth  to  the  heart  and  the  beast  dyeth." 
This  "information"  is  derived  from  Pliny,  but  the 
superstition  is  found  in  Greek.  The  epithet  was,  up  to 
Shakespeare's  time,  applied  indifferently  to  both  sexes. 
From  shrew  is  derived  shrewdy  earlier  shrewed}  the 
meaning  of  which  has  become  much  milder  than  when 
Henry  VIII.  said  to  Cranmer — 

"The  common  voice  I  see  is  verified 
Of  thee  which  says,  *  Do  my  lord  of  Canterbury 
A  shrewd  turn,  and  he's  your  friend  for  ever.' " 

{Henry  VUL,  v.  2.) 

The  title  Dauphin,  lit.  dolphin,  commemorates  the 
absorption  into  the  French  monarchy,  in  1349,  of  the 
lordship  of  Dauphin^,  the  cognisance  of  which  was  three 
dolphins. 

The  application  of  animals'  names  to  diseases  is  a 

*  For  the  rather  illogical  formation,  cf.  dogged  from  dog. 


BAFnSMAL  NAMES  OF  ANIMALS  35 

familiar  phenomenon,  G.g.,  cancer  (and  canker),  crab,  and 
lupus,  wolf.  To  this  class  belongs  tnulligrubs,  for  which 
we  find  in  the  17th  century  also  mouldy  grubs.  Its 
oldest  meaning  is  stomach-ache,  still  given  in  Hotten's 
Slang  Dictionary  (1864).  Mully  is  still  used  in  dialect 
for  mouldy,  earthy,  and  grub  was  once  the  regular  word 
for  worm.  The  Latin  name  for  the  same  discomfort 
was  verminatio,  from  vermis,  a  worm.  For  the  later 
transition  of  meaning  we  may  compare  megrims,  from 
Fr.  migraine,  head-ache,  Greco-Lat.  hemicrania,  lit.  half- 
skull,  because  supposed  to  affect  one  side  only  of  the 
head. 

A  good  many  names  of  plants  and  animals  have  a 
religious  origin.  Hollyhock  is  for  holy  hock,  from  Anglo- 
Sax,  hoc,  mallow :  for  the  pronunciation  cf  holiday. 
Halibut  means  holy  butt,  the  latter  word  being  an  old 
name  for  flat  fish ;  for  this  form  of  holy,  cf  halidom. 
Lady  in  names  of  flowers  such  as  lady's  bedstraw^  lady's 
garter,  lady's  slipper,  is  for  Our  Lady.  So  also  in  lady- 
bird, called  in  French  bete  a  bon  Dieu  and  in  German 
Marienkdfer,  Mary's  beetle.  Here  may  be  mentioned 
samphire,  from  Old  Fr.  herbe  de  Saint  Pierre,  "  sampire, 
crestmarin"  (Cotgrave).  The  filbert,  e3.r\\Qr  philibert,  is 
named  from  St  Philibert,  the  nut  being  ripe  by  St 
Philibert's  day  (22nd  Aug.).  We  may  compare  Ger. 
Lanibertsnuss,  filbert,  originally  "Lombard  nut,"  but 
popularly  associated  with  St  Lambert's  day  (17th  Sept.). 

The  application  of  baptismal  names  to  animals  is  a 
very  general  practice,  though  the  reason  for  the  selection 
of  the  particular  name  is  not  always  clear.  The  most 
famous  of  such  names  is  Renard  the  Fox.  The  Old 
French  for  fox  is  goupil,  a  derivative  of  Lat.  vulpes,  fox. 
The  hero  of  the  great  beast  epic  of  the  Middle  Ages  is 
Rejtard  le  goupil,  and  the  fact  that  renard  has  now  com- 
pletely supplanted  ^^/^//7  shows  how  popular  the  Renard 


36     WORDS  OF  POPULAR  MANUFACTURE 

legends  must  have  been.  Renard  is  from  Old  High 
Ger.  regin-harty  strong  in  counsel ;  cf.  our  names 
Reginald  and  Reynold,  and  Scot.  Ronald,  of  Norse  origin. 
From  the  same  source  come  Chantecler,  lit.  sing-clear, 
the  cock,  and  Partlet,  the  hen,  while  Bruin,  the  bear,  lit. 
"brown,"  is  from  the  Dutch  version  of  the  epic.  In  the 
Low  German  version,  Reinke  de  Vos,  the  ape's  name  is 
Moneke,  a  diminutive  corresponding  to  Ital.  monicchio^ 
"  a  pugge,  a  rnunkie,  an  ape  "  (Florio),  the  earlier  history 
of  which  is  much  disputed.  The  cat  was  called  Tibert 
or  Theobald — 

Mfrcutio.     "  Tybalt,  you  rat-catcher,  will  you  walk?" 
Tybalt.     "  What  wouldst  thou  have  with  me  ?" 
Mercutio.     "Good  king  of  cats,  nothing  but  one  of  your 
nine  lives." 

{Romeo  and  Juliet^  iii.  i.) 

The  fact  that  the  donkey  was  at  one  time  regularly 
called  Cuddy  made  Cuthbert  for  a  long  period  unpopular 
as  a  baptismal  name.  He  is  now  often  called  Neddy. 
The  hare  was  called  Wat  (  Walter)  in  Tudor  times.  In 
the  Roman  de  Renard  he  is  Couard,  whence  coward,  a 
derivative  of  Old  Fr.  coue  {queue),  tail,  from  Lat.  cauda. 
The  idea  is  that  of  the  tail  between  the  legs,  so  that  the 
name  is  etymologically  not  very  appropriate  to  the 
hare.  Parrot,  for  earlier  perrot,  means  "  little  Peter." 
The  extension  Poll  Parrot  is  thus  a  kind  of  herma- 
phrodite. Fr.  pierrot  is  still  used  for  the  sparrow. 
The  family  name  Perrot  is  sometimes  a  nickname,  "  the 
chatterer,"  but  can  also  mean  literally  "little  Peter," 
just  as  Emmot  means  "little  Emma,"  and  Harriot 
"little  Mary."  Petrel  is  of  cognate  origin,  with  an 
allusion  to  St  Peter's  walking  upon  the  sea ;  cf.  its 
German  name,  Sankt  Peters  Vogel.  Sailors  call  the 
petrel  Mother  Carey's  chicken^  probably  a  nautical  cor- 


NAMES  OF  BIRDS  37 


-m 


ruption  of  some  old  Spanish  or  Italian  name.  But, 
in  spite  of  ingenious  guesses,  this  lady's  genealogy 
remains  as  obscure  as  that  of  Davy  Jones  or  the  Jolly 
Roger. 

Rodin  has  practically  replaced  red-breast.  The 
martin  is  in  French  martinet^  and  the  name  may  have 
been  given  in  allusion  to  the  southward  flight  of  this 
swallow  about  Martinmas ;  but  the  king-fisher,  not  a 
migrant  bird,  is  called  mai'tin-pecheur^  formerly  also 
martinet  pecheur  or  oiseau  de  Saint-Martin^  so  that 
martin  may  be  due  to  some  other  association.  Some- 
times the  double  name  survives.  We  no  longer  say 
Philip  sparrow^  but  Jack  ass,  Jack  daw,  Jenny  wren, 
Tom  tit  (see  p.  123),  and  the  inclusive  Dicky  bird,  are  still 
familiar.  With  these  we  may  compare  Hob  (i.e.  Robert) 
goblin.  Madge  owlet,  or  simply  Madge,  was  once  common. 
For  Mag  pie  we  find  also  various  diminutives — 

"  Augurs,  and  understood  relations,  have 
By  magot-pies,  and  choughs,  and  rooks,  brought  forth 
The  secret'st  man  of  blood." 

{^Macbeth,  iii.  4.) 

Cotgrave  has  pie,  "  a  pye,  pyannat,  meggatapie."  In 
Old  French  it  was  also  called  jaquette,  "  a  proper  name 
for  a  woman  ;  also,  a  piannat,  or  megatapie  "  (Cotgrave). 
The  connection  of  this  word,  Fr.  pie,  Lat.  pica,  with 
the  comestible//^  is  uncertain,  but  it  seems  likely  that 
the  magpie's  habit  of  collecting  miscellaneous  trifles 
caused  its  name  to  be  given  to  a  dish  of  uncertain  con- 
stituents. It  is  a  curious  coincidence  that  the  obsolete 
chuet  or  chewet  meant  both  a  round  pie  and  a  jackdaw.^ 
It  is  uncertain  in  which  of  the  two  senses  Prince  Hal 

'  Connection  has  even  been  suggested  between  haggis  and  Fr.  agasse^ 
"a  pie,  piannet,  or  magatapie^''  (Cotgrave).  Haggis,  now  regarded  as 
Scottish,  was  once  a  common  word  in  English.  Palsgrave  has  haggas,  a 
podyng,  ••  caliette  (caillette)  de  mouton,"  i,e.,  sheep's  stomach. 

C  2 


38     WORDS  OF  POPULAR  MANUFACTURE 

applies  the  name  to  Falstaff  (i  Henry  IV.,  v.  i).  It 
comes  from  Fr.  chouette^  screech-owl,  which  formerly- 
meant  also  "a  chough,  daw,  jack-daw"  (Cotgrave). 

A  piebald  horse  is  one  balled  like  a  magpie. 
Ball  is  a  Celtic  word  for  a  white  mark,  especially  on 
the  forehead ;  hence  the  tavern  sign  of  the  Baldfaced 
Stag.     Our  adjective  bald  is  thus  a  past  participle. 

Things  are  often  named  from  animals.  Crane,  kite, 
donkey-engine,  monkey-wrench,  pig-iron,  etc.,  are  simple 
cases.  The  crane  picture  is  so  striking  that  we  are  not 
surprised  to  find  it  literally  reproduced  in  many  other 
languages.  The  toy  called  a  kite  is  in  French  cerf- 
volant,  flying  stag,  a  name  also  applied  to  the  stag-beetle, 
and  in  Ger.  Drachen,  dragon.  It  is  natural  that  terrify- 
ing names  should  have  been  given  to  early  fire-arms. 
Many  of  these,  e.g.,  basilisk,  serpent,  falconet,  saker  (from 
Fr.  sacre,  a  kind  of  hawk),  are  obsolete — 

"  The  cannon,  blunderbuss,  and  saker^ 
He  was  th'  inventor  of  and  maker." 

{Hudibras,  i.  2.) 

More  familiar  is  culverin,  Fr.  couleuvrine,  a  derivative  of 
couleuvre,  adder,  Lat.  coluber — 

"  And  thou  hast  talk'd 
Of  sallies  and  retires,  of  trenches,  tents, 
Of  palisadoes,  frontiers,  parapets, 
Of  basilisks,  of  cannon,  culverin." 

(i  Henry  IV,,  ii.  3.) 

One  name  for  a  hand-gun  was  dragon,  whence  our 
dragoon,  originally  applied  to  a  kind  of  mounted 
infantry  or  carbineers.  Musket,  like  saker  (v.s.),  was 
the  name  of  a  hawk.  Mistress  Ford  uses  it  playfully  to 
her  page — 

"How  now,  my  eya.s^-musket,  what  news  with  you  ?" 

•  (Merry  Wives,  iii.  3.) 

^  For  eyas,  see  p.  1 14 


THINGS  NAMED  FROM  PERSONS  39 

But  the  hawk  was  so  nicknamed  from  its  small  size. 
Fr.  motisquet,  now  replaced  in  the  hawk  sense  by 
hnouchet,  is  from  Ital.  moschetto,  a  diminutive  from 
Lat.  musca,  fly.  Thus  mosquito  (Spanish)  and  musket 
are  doublets. 

Porcelain  comes,  through  French,  from  W.'oX.porcellana, 
"a  kinde  of  fine  earth  c'd\\edj^orce/ane,wh.ereoi  they  make 
fine  china  dishes,  called porce/ian  dishes"  (Florio).  This 
is,  however,  a  transferred  meaning,  porcei/ana  being  the 
name  of  a  particularly  glossy  shell  called  the  "  Venus 
shell."  It  is  a  derivative  of  Lat.  porous^  pig.  Easel 
comes,  with  many  other  painters'  terms,  from  Holland. 
It  is  Du.  ezel,  ass,  which,  like  Ger.  Esel^  comes  from 
Lat.  asinus.  For  its  metaphorical  application  we  may 
compare  Fr.  chevalet^  easel,  lit.  "  little  horse,"  and  Eng. 
"  clothes-^^;^^-^." 

Objects  often  bear  the  names  of  individuals.  Such 
are  albert  chain,  brougham^  victoria^  Wellington  boot. 
Middle-aged  people  can  remember  ladies  wearing  a 
red  blouse  called  a  garibaldi}  Sometimes  an  inventor 
is  immortalised,  e.g.,  mackintosh  and  shrapnel^  both 
due  to  19th-century  inventors.  The  more  recent 
maxim  is  named  from  one  who,  according  to  the 
late  Lord  Salisbury,  has  saved  many  of  his  fellow- 
men  from  dying  of  old  age.  Other  benefactors  are 
commemorated  in  derringer^  first  recorded  in  Bret 
Harte,  and  bowie,  which  occurs  in  Dickens'  Ameri- 
can Notes.  Sandwich  and  spencer  are  coupled  in  an 
old  rime — 

**Two  noble  earls,  whom,  if  I  quote, 
Some  folks  might  call  me  sinner  ; 
The  one  invented  half  a  coat, 
The  other  half  a  dinner." 

*  To  the  same  period  belongs  the  colour  magenta^  from  the  victory  of 
the  French  over  the  Austrians  at  Magenta  in  1859. 


40     WORDS  OF  POPULAR  MANUFACTURE 

An  Earl  Spencer  (1782-1845)  made  a  short  overcoat 
fashionable  for  some  time.  An  Earl  of  Sandwich  • 
(17 1 8-1792)  invented  a  form  of  light  refreshment  which 
enabled  him  to  take  a  meal  without  leaving  the  gaming 
table.  It  does  not  appear  that  Billy  Cock  is  to  be 
classed  with  the  above,  or  with  Chesterfield^  Chippendale 
&  Co.  The  New  English  Dictionary  quotes  (from  1721) 
a  description  of  the  Oxford  "  blood  "  in  his  "  bully-cocked 
hat/'  worn  aggressively  on  one  side.  Pinchbeck  was  a 
London  watchmaker  {fl.  c.  1700),  and  doily  is  from 
Day  ley,  a  linen-draper  of  the  same  period.  Etienne  de 
Silhouette  was  French  finance  minister  in  1759,  but 
the  application  of  his  name  to  a  black  profile  portrait 
is  variously  explained.  Negus  was  first  brewed  in 
Queen  Anne's  reign  by  Colonel  Francis  Negus. 

The  first  orrery  was  constructed  by  the  Earl  of 
Orrery  {c.  1700).  Galvani  and  Volta  were  Italian 
scientists  of  the  18th  century.  Mesmer  wdiS  a  German 
physician  of  the  same  period.  Nicotine  is  named  from 
Jean  Nicot,  French  ambassador  at  Lisbon,  who  sent 
some  tobacco  plants  to  Catherine  de  M^dicis  in  1560. 
He  also  compiled  the  first  Old  French  dictionary.  The 
gallows-shaped  contrivance  called  a  derrick  perpetuates 
the  name  of  a  famous  hangman  who  officiated  in 
London  about  1600.  It  is  a  Dutch  name,  identical 
with  Dietrich,  Theodoric,  and  Dirk  (Hatteraick).  Con- 
versely the  Fr.  potence,  gallows,  meant  originally  a 
bracket  or  support,  Lat.  potentia,  power.  The  origin 
of  darbies,  handcuffs,  is  unknown,  but  the  line — 

"To  bind  such  babes  in  father  Derbies  bands," 

(Gascoigne,  The  Steel  Glass,  1576.) 

suggests  connection  with  some  eminent  gaoler  or  thief- 
taker. 

Occasionally  a  verb  is  formed  from  a  proper  name, 


TANTALISE—PAMPHLET  41 

On  the  model  of  tantalise,  from  the  punishment  of 
Tantalus,  we  have  bowdlerise^  from  Bowdler^  who 
published  an  expurgated  "  family  Shakespeare "  in 
1818;  c{.  macadamise.  Burke  and  l^qycott  commQmorsite 
a  scoundrel  and  a  victim.  The  latter  word,  from  the 
treatment  of  Captain  Boycott  of  Co.  Mayo  in  1880, 
seems  to  have  supplied  a  want,  for  Fr.  boycotter  and 
Ger.  boycottieren  are  already  every-day  words.  Burke 
was  hanged  at  Edinburgh  in  1829  for  murdering 
people  by  suffocation  in  order  to  dispose  of  their 
bodies  to  medical  schools.  We  now  use  the  verb  only 
of  "stifling"  discussion,  but  in  the  Ingoldsby  Legends 
it  still  has  the  original  sense — 

"  But,  when  beat  on  his  knees, 

That  confounded  De  Guise 

Came  behind  with  the  'fogle '  that  caused  all  this  breeze, 

Whipp'd  it  tight  round  his  neck,  and,  when  backward  he'd  jerk'd 

him, 
The  rest  of  the  rascals  jump'd  on  him  and  ^«r^^him." 

{The  Tragedy.) 

Jaruey^  the  slang  name  for  a  hackney  coachman, 
especially  in  Ireland,  was  in  the  i8th  century  y>/^/j  or 
Jarvis^  but  history  is  silent  as  to  this  modern  Jehu. 
A  pasquinade  was  originally  an  anonymous  lampoon 
affixed  to  a  statue  of  a  gladiator  which  still  stands 
in  Rome.  The  statue  is  said  to  have  been  nicknamed 
from  a  scandal-loving  cobbler  named  Pasquino.  Florio 
has  pasquino^  "  a  statue  in  Rome  on  whom  all  libels, 
railings,  detractions,  and  satirical  invectives  are 
fathered."  Pamphlet  is  an  extended  use  of  Old  Fr. 
Pamphilet,  the  name  of  a  Latin  poem  by  one  Pamphilus 
which  was  popular  in  the  Middle  Ages.  The  suffix  -et 
was  often  used  in  this  way,  e.g,^  the  translation  of 
^sop's  fables  by  Marie  de  France  was  called  Ysopety 
and  Cato's  moral  maxims  had  the  title  Catonety  or  Parvus 


42     WORDS  OF  POPULAR  MANUFACTURE 

Cato.  Modern  Y^. pamphlet^  borrowed  back  from  English, 
has  always  the  sense  of  polemical  writing.  In  Eng. 
libel,  lit.  "little  book,"  we  see  a  similar  restriction  of 
meaning.  A  three-quarter  portrait  of  fixed  dimensions 
is  called  a  kitcat — 

"  It  is  not  easy  to  see  why  he  should  have  chosen  to  produce  a 
replica,  or  rather  a  kitcat."    {Journal  of  Education^  Oct.  191 1.) 

The  name  comes  from  the  portraits  of  members 
of  the  Kitcat  Club,  painted  by  Kneller.  Kit  Kat, 
Christopher  Kat,  was  a  pastrycook  at  whose  shop  the 
club  used  to  dine. 

Implements  and  domestic  objects  sometimes  bear 
christian  names.  We  may  mention  spinning-jennj/,  and 
the  innumerable  meanings  of  jack  Davit,  earlier 
davioty  is  a  diminutive  of  David.  Fr.  davier,  formerly 
daviet,  is  used  of  several  mechanical  contrivances, 
including  a  pick-lock.  A  kind  of  davit  is  called  in 
German  Jiitte,  a  diminutive  of  Judith.  The  implement 
by  which  the  burglar  earns  his  daily  bread  is  now 
called  a  jemmy,  but  in  the  17th  century  we  also  find 
bess  and  betty.  The  French  name  is  rossignol,  nightin- 
gale. The  German  burglar  calls  it  Dietrich,  Peterchen^ 
or  Klaus,  and  the  contracted  forms  of  the  first  name, 
dyrk  and  dirk,  have  passed  into  Swedish  and  Danish 
with  the  same  meaning.  In  Italian  a  pick-lock  is  called 
grimaldello,  a  diminutive  of  the  name  Grimaldo. 

A  kitchen  wench  was  once  called  a  malkin — 

"  The  kitchen  malkin  pins 
Her  richest  lockram  ^  'bout  her  reechy  neck, 
Clamb'ring  the  walls  to  eye  him." 

{Cortolamis,  \\.  i.) 

This  is  a  diminutive  of  Matilda  or  Mary,  possibly  of 
1  For  lockram,  see  p.  48. 


GRIMALKIN— JUG  43 

both.  Grimalkin^  applied  to  a  fiend  in  the  shape  of  a 
cat,  is  for  gray  malkin — 

"  I  come,  GraymalkmJ*    {Macbeth^  i.  i.) 

The  name  malkin  was  transferred  from  the  maid  to  the 
mop.  Cotgrave  has  escouillon  (Jcouvillon)^  "  a  wispe,  or 
dish-clowt;  a  maukin^  or  drag,  to  cleanse,  or  sweepe 
an  oven."  l^couvillon  is  a  derivative  of  Lat.  scopa^  broom. 
Now  another  French  word,  which  means  both  "  kitchen 
servant"  and  "dish-clout,"  is  souillon,  from  souiller,  to 
soil.  What  share  each  of  these  words  has  in  Eng. 
scullion  is  hard  to  say.  The  only  thing  certain  is  that 
scullion  is  not  originally  related  to  scullery^  Old  Fr. 
escuelerie^  a  collective  from  Old  Fr.  escuelle  {icuelle)^ 
dish,  Lat.  scutella, 

A  doll  was  formerly  called  a  baby  or  puppet.  It  is 
the  abbreviation  of  Dorothy^  for  we  find  it  called  a 
doroty  in  Scottish.  We  may  compare  Fr.  marionnette^  a 
double  diminutive  of  Mary,  explained  by  Cotgrave  as 
"little  Marian  or  Mai;  also,  a  puppet."  Little  Mary^  in 
another  sense,  has  been  recently,  but  perhaps  definitely, 
adopted  into  our  language.  Another  old  name  for 
doll  is  mammet  Capulet  uses  it  contemptuously  to  his 
daughter — 

"  And  then  to  have  a  wretched  puling  fool, 
A  whining  mamjnel,  in  her  fortune's  tender, 
To  answer  :  '  Til  not  wed,' — *  I  cannot  love.'" 

{Romeo  and  Juliet^  iii.  5.) 

Its  earlier  form  is  maumet,  meaning  "  idol,"  and  it  is  a 
contraction  of  Mahomet. 

The  derivation  oi  jug  is  not  capable  of  proof,  but 
a  17th-century  etymologist  regards  it  as  identical 
with  the  female  name  Jug^  for  Joan  or  Jane.     This  is 

^  Jehannette,  ''''Jug.,  or  Jinny  "  (Cotgrave).  For  strange  perversions  of 
baptismal  names  see  Chap.  XII.  It  is  possible  that  the  rather  uncommon 
family  xiAmt  Juggins  is  of  the  same  origin. 


/ 


44     WORDS  OF  POPULAR  MANUFACTURE 

supported  by  the  fact  that  jack  was  used  in  a  similar 
sense — 

"  That  there's  wrath  and  despair  in  the  jolly  hla-ck-jack^ 
And  the  seven  deadly  sins  in  a  flagop  of  sack." 

(Lady  of  the  Lake^  vi.  5.]^ 

We  may  also  compare  toby  jug  and  demi-john. 
The  latter  word  is  in  French  dame-jeanne^  but  both 
forms  are  probably  due  to  folk-etymology.  A  coat 
of  mail  was  called  in  English  a  jack  and  in  French 
jaque^  "  d^jack,  or  coat  of  maile  "  (Cotgrave) ;  hence  the 
diminutive  y<T^/^^/.  The  German  miners  gave  to  an  ore 
which  they  considered  useless  the  name  kobalty  from 
kobold,  a  goblin,  gnome.  This  has  given  Eng.  cobalt. 
Much  later  is  the  similarly  formed  nickel^  a  diminutive 
of  Nicholas.  It  comes  to  us  from  Sweden,  but  appears 
earliest  in  the  German  compound  Kupfernickel^  copper 
nickel.  Apparently  nickel  here  means  something  like 
goblin  ;  cf.  Old  Nick  and,  probably,  the  dickens — 

"  I  cannot  tell  what  the  dickens  his  name  is  my  husband  had 
him  of. — What  do  you  call  your  knight's  name,  sirrah  ?" 

{Merry  WzT/eSy  iii.  2.) 

Pantaloons  come,  via  France,  from  Venice.  A  great 
many  Venetians  bore  the  name  of  Pantaleone^  one  of 
their  favourite  saints.  Hence  the  application  of  the 
name  to  the  characteristic  Venetian  hose.  The  "  lean 
and  slippered  pantaloon  "  was  originally  one  of  the  stock 
characters  of  the  old  Italian  comedy.  Torriano  has 
pantalonCy  "  a  pantalone,  a  covetous  and  yet  amorous  old 
dotard,  properly  applyed  in  comedies  unto  a  Venetian." 
Knickerbockers  take  their  name  from  Diedrich  Knicker- 
bocker ^  the  pseudonym  under  which  Washington  Irving 
wrote  his  History  of  Old  New  York,  in  which  the  early 
Dutch  inhabitants  are  depicted  in  baggy  knee-breeches. 

Certain   christian   names  are    curiously   associated 


NINNY— JACKANAPES  45 

with  stupidity.  In  modern  English  we  speak  of  a 
silly  Johfiny^  while  the  Germans  say  ein  dm mner  Peter ^  or 
Michel^  and  French  uses  Colas  {Nicolas)^  Nicodhne  and 
.  Cla7ide^  the  reason  for  the  selection  of  the  name  not 
alwa3^s  being  known.  English  has,  or  had,  in  the  sense 
of  "  fool,"  the  words  ninny,  nickiim,  noddy,  zany.  Ninny 
is  for  Innocent,  "  Innocent,  Ninny^  a  proper  name  for  a 
man  "  (Cotgrave).  With  this  we  may  compare  French 
benct  {i.e.  Benedict),  "  a  simple,  plaine,  doltish  fellow  ;  a 
noddy  peake,  a  ninny  hammer,  a  peagoose,  a  coxe,  a 
silly  companion"  (Cotgrave).  Nickuni  and  noddy  are 
probably  for  Nicodemus  or  Nicholas,  both  of  which  are 
used  in  French  for  a  fool — 

"  *  But  there's  another  chance  for^you,'  said  Mr  Boffin,  smiling 
still.  *  Do  you  like  the  name  of  Nicodemus?  Think  it  over.  Nick 
or  Noddy:  "    {Our  Mutual  Friend,  Ch.  5.) 

Noddy-peak,  ninny-hammer,  nickumpoop,  now  nincompoop, 
seem  to  be  arbitrary  elaborations.  Zany,  formerly  a  con- 
juror's assistant,  is  zanni{sGQ  p.  143),  an  Italian  diminutive 
of  Giovanni,  John.  With  the  degeneration  of  Innocent 
and  Benedict  we  may  compare  Fr.  cretin,  idiot,  an 
Alpine  patois  form  of  chr^tien.  Christian,  and  Eng.  silly, 
which  once  meant  blessed,  a  sense  preserved  by  its 
German  cognate  selig.  Dunce  is  a  libel  on  the  disciples 
of  the  great  medieval  schoolman  John  Duns  Scotus, 
born  at  Duns  in  Berwickshire. 

Dandy  is  Scottish  for  Andrew,  e.g.,  Dandie  Dinmont 
{Guy  Mannering).  Dago,  now  usually  applied  to 
Italians,  was  used  by  the  Elizabethans,  in  its  original 
form  Diego,  of  the  Spaniards.  The  derivation  of  guy  a.nd 
bobby  (peeler)  \s  well  known.  Jockey  is  a  diminutive  of 
the  north  cownXxy  Jock,  for  Jack.  The  history  oi  jacka- 
napes is  obscure.  The  earliest  record  of  the  name  is  in 
a  satirical  song  on  the  unpopular  William  de  la  Pole, 


46      WORDS  OF  POPULAR  MANUFACTURE 

Duke   of  Suffolk,  who   was  beheaded  at  sea  in    I45( 
He  is  called  Jack  Napes,  the  allusion  being  apparentlj 
to  his  badge,  an  ape's  clog  and  chain.     But  there  ah 
seems  to  be  association  with  Naples;  ci.  fustian-a7zapes 
for  Naples  fustian.    A  poem  of  the  1 5th  century  mentions 
among  our  imports  from  Italy — 

"Apes  and  japes  and  marmusettes  tayled." 

Jilt  was  once  a  stronger  epithet  than  at  present.  It 
is  for  earlier  jzllet^  which  is  a  diminutive  of  Jill,  the 
companion  of  Jack.  ////,  again,  is  short  for  Gillian,  i.e. 
Juliana,  so  that  jilt  is  a  doublet  of  Shakespeare's 
sweetest  heroine.  Termagant,  like  shrew  (p.  34),  was 
formerly  used  of  both  sexes,  e.g.,  by  Sir  John  Falstaff — 

"'Twas  time  to  counterfeit,  or  that  hot  tennagant  Scot 
(Douglas)  had  paid  me  scot  and  lot  too."    (i  Henry  IV.,  v.  4.) 

In  its  oldest  sense  of  a  Saracen  god  it  regularly  occurs 
with  Mahound  (Mahomet) — 

"  Marsilies  fait  porter  un  livre  avant : 
La  lei  i  fut  Mahum  e  Tervagan."  ^ 

{Chanson  de  Roland,  1.  610.) 

-Ariosto  has  Trivigante.  Being  introduced  into  the 
medieval  drama,  the  name  became  synonymous  with  a 
stage  fury — 

"  I  would  have  such  a  fellow  whipped  for  o'erdoing  Termagant.^' 

{Hamlet,  iii.  2.) 

The  origin  of  the  word  is  unknown,  but  its  sense  develop- 
ment is  strangely  different  from  that  of  Mahomet  (p.  43). 

1  "  Marsil  has  a  book  brought  forward :  the  law  of  Mahomet  and 
Termagant  was  in  it" 


CHAPTER   IV 

WORDS   AND   PLACES 

A  VERY  large  number  of  wares  are  named  from  the 
places  from  which  they  come.  This  is  especially 
common  in  the  case  of  woven  fabrics,  and  the  origin 
is  often  obvious,  e.g.,  arras^  cashmere  (by  folk-etymology, 
kerseymere)^  damask^  holland.  The  following  are  perhaps 
not  all  so  evident— ^r/>^^  from  Friesland^ ;  fustian,  Old 
Fr.  fustaine  {futaine),  from  Fustat,  a  suburb  of  Cairo ; 
muslin,  Fr.  mousseline,  from  Mosul  in  Kurdistan  ;  shalloon 
from  (^/^(^/(C/^.f-sur-Marne  ;  lawn  from  Laon  ',jean,  formerly 
jane,  from  Genoa  (French  Genes  ^) ;  cambric  from  Kamerijk^ 
the  Dutch  name  of  Cambrai  {cf.  the  obsolete  dornick^ 
from  the  Dutch  name  of  Tournay) ;  tartan  from  the 
Tartars  (properly  Tatars),  used  vaguely  for  Orientals ; 
sarcenet  from  the  Saracens ;  sendal,  ultimately  from  India 
{cf.  Greco-Lat.  sindon,  Indian  cloth);  tabby,  Old  Fr. 
atabis,  from  the  name  of  a  suburb  of  Bagdad,  formerly 
used  of  a  kind  of  silk,  but  now  of  a  cat  marked  some- 
thing like  the  material  in  question. 

•  Whence  also  cheval  de  frise^  a  contrivance  used  by  the  Frieslanders 
against  cavalry.  The  German  name  is  die  spanischen  Keiter^  explained  by 
Ludwig  as  '*a  bar  with  iron-spikes  ;  cheval  de  /rise,  a  warlick  instrument, 
to  keep  off  the  horse." 

*  The  {orm  jeans  appears  to  be  usual  in  America — "His  hands  were 
thrust  carelessly  into  the  side  pockets  of  a  griLy  jeans  coat." 

(Meredith  Nicholson,  War  of  the  Carolinas,  Ch.  15.) 
47 


48  WOKDS  AND  PLACES 

Brittany  used  to  be  famous  for  hempen  fabrics, 
the  villages  of  Locrenan  and  Daoulas  gave  their  names  | 
to  lockram  (see  quotation  from  Coriolanus^  p.  42)  andj 
dowlas — 

Hostess.  You  owe  me  money,  Sir  John  ;  and  now  you  pick  a| 
quarrel  to  beguile  me  of  it :  I  bought  you  a  dozen  of  shirts  to  your  i 
back. 

Falstaff.  Dowlas^  filthy  dowlas j  I  have  given  them  away  to^ 
bakers'  wives,  and  they  have  made  bolters  of  them. 

(i  Henry  IV.,  iii.  3.) . 
Duffel  is  a  place  near  Antwerp — 

"  And  let  it  be  of  duffil  gray, 
As  warm  a  cloak  as  man  can  sell." 

(Wordsworth,  Alice  Fell) 

and  Worstead  is  in  Norfolk.  Of  other  commodities 
majolica  comes  from  Majorca^  called  in  Spanish  Mallorca, 
and  in  medieval  Latin  Majolica ;  bronze  from  Brun- 
dusium  (Brindisi),  delf  from  Delft^  the  7nagnet  from 
Magnesia,  the  shallot,  Fr.  ichalotte,  in  Old  French  also 
escalogne,  whence  archaic  Eng.  scallion,  from  Ascalon ; 
the  sardine  from  Sardinia.  A  milliner,  formerly  milaner, 
dealt  in  goods  from  Milan.  Cravat  dates  from  the 
Thirty  Years'  War,  in  which  the  Croats,  earlier  Cravats, 
played  a  part.  Ermine  is  in  medieval  Latin  mus 
Armenius,  Armenian  mouse,  but  the  name  really  comes, 
through  Fr.  hermine,  from  Old  High  Ger.  harmo,  weasel. 
Buncombe,  more  usually  bunkum,  is  the  name  of  a  county 
in  North  Carolina.  To  make  a  speech  "for  Buncombe" 
means,  in  American  politics,  to  show  your  constituents 
that  you  are  doing  your  best  for  your  £Apo  a  year  or 
its  American  equivalent.  Cf  Billingsgate  and  Limehouse. 
The  adjective  spruce  was  form.erly  pruce  and  meant 
Prussia.     Todd  quotes  from  Holinshed — 

"Sir  Edward  Howard  then  admirall,  and  with  him  Sir  Thomas 
Parre  in  doubletts  of  crimsin  velvett,  etc.,  were  apparelled  after  the 
fashion  of  Prussia  or  Spruce," 


BEZANT—MAZURKA  4S 

Of  similar  origin  are  spruce-leather^  spruce-beer ^  and  the 
spruce-fir,  of  which  Evelyn  says — 

"  Those  from  Prussia  (which  we  call  spruce)  and  Norway  are 
the  best." 

Among  coins  the  bezant  comes  from  Byzantium,  the 
florin  from  Florence,  and  Shylock's  ducat,  chiefly  a 
Venetian  coin,  from  the  ducato  d'Apuglia,  the  Duchy 
of  Apulia,  where  it  was  first  coined  in  the  I2th  century. 
The  dollar  is  the  Low  Ger.  daler,  for  Ger.  Taler, 
originally  called  a  Joachimstaler,  from  the  silver-mine  of 
Joachimstal,  "Joachim's  dale,"  in  Bohemia.  Cotgrave 
registers  a  curious  Old  French  perversion y(?<:^;^<^^/^,  "a 
daller,  a  piece  of  money  worth  about  3s.  sterl."  Some 
fruits  may   also   be   mentioned,  e.g.,  the   damson   from  jk 

Damascus,  through  Old  Fr.  damaisine,  "a  damascene  or 
damsen  plum"  (Cotgrave);  the  currant  from  Corinth,^xi^ 
the  peach,  Fr.  peche,  from  Vulgar  Lat.  pessica,  for  Persica, 

A  polony  was  originally  a  Bolonian  sausage,  from 
Bologna,  Parchment,  Fr.  parchemin,  is  the  adjective 
pergamenus,  from  Pergamus,  in  Asia  Minor.  Spaniel 
is  the  Old  Fr.  espagneul  (Jpagneul),  lit.  Spanish.  We 
have  the  adjective  Moorish  in  morris ^  ox  morrice,  pike — 

"  He  that  sets  up  his  rest  to  do  more  exploits  with  his  mace 
than  a  morris  pike."    {Comedy  of  Errors,  iv.  3.) 

In  morris  dance,  Fr.  danse  mauresque,  the  same  adjective 
is  used  with  something  of  the  vagueness  to  be  noticed 
in  connection  with  India  and  Turkey  (p.  52).  Shake- 
speare uses  the  Spanish  form — 

"  I  have  seen  him 
Caper  upright,  like  to  a  wild  morisco. 
Shaking  the  bloody  darts  as  he  his  bells." 

(2  Henry  F/.,  ill.  i.) 

Other  "local"  dances  are  the  polka,  which  means 
Polish    woman,   mazurka^   woman    of    Massovia,    and 

D 


60  WOHDS  AND  PLACES 

the  ohsoX^iQ polonaise,  lit.  Polish,  cracoviennCy  from  Cracow, 
and  varsovienne,  from  Warsaw.  The  tarantella,  like  the 
tarantula  spider,  takes  its  name  from  Taranto,  in  Italy. 
The  tune  of  the  dance  is  said  to  have  been  originally 
employed  as  a  cure  for  the  lethargy  caused  by  the  bite 
of  the  spider.  Florio  has  tarantola,  "a  serpent  called 
an  eft  or  an  evet.  Some  take  it  to  be  a  flye  whose 
sting  is  perillous  and  deadly,  and  nothing  but  divers 
sounds  of  musicke  can  cure  the  patient." 

The  town  of  Troyes  has  given  its  name  to  troy 
weight.  The  armourers  of  Bilbao,  in  Spain,  made 
swords  of  such  perfect  temper  that  they  could  be^ 
bent  point  to  hilt.  Hence  Falstaff  describes  himself 
in  the  buck-basket  as — 

"  Compassed,  like  a  good  bilbo,  in  the  circumference  of  a  peck, 
hilt  to  point,  heel  to  head."    {Merry  Wives,  iii.  5.) 

The  Andrea  Ferrara,  or  Scottish  broadsword,  carried 
by  Fergus  M'lvor,  bears,  according  to  some  authorities, 
the  name  of  an  armourer  of  Ferrara,  in  Italy.  Accord- 
ing to  others,  Andrea  Ferrara  was  a  sword-maker  at 
Belluno.  I  have  heard  it  affirmed  by  a  Scottish  drill- 
sergeant  that  the  real  name  of  this  genius  was  Andrew 
Ferrars}  and  that  he  belonged  to  the  same  nationality 
as  other  great  men. 

An  argosy,  formerly  also  ragusye,  was  named  from 

^  A  Scotch  reviewer  (^Glasgow  Herald^  13th  April  1 91 2)  corrects  me 
here — "  His  name  was  certainly  not  Ferrars,  but  Ferrier.  He  was  probably 
an  Arbroath  man."  Some  readers  may  remember  that,  after  General 
Todkben^s  brilliant  defence  of  Sebastopol  (1854-5),  Punch  discovered  a 
respectable  ancestry  for  him  also.     In  some  lines  commencing — 

*'  1  ken  him  weel,  the  chield  was  born  in  Fife, 
The  bairn  of  Andrew  Drummond  and  his  wife," 

it  was  shown  that  the  apparently  foreign  name  had  been  conferred  on  the 
gifted  child  because  of  the  agility  with  which  he  used  to  "  toddle  ben  the 
hoose." 


LATEEN— GUINEA-PIG  51 

the  Adriatic  port  of  Ragusa,  and  a  lateen  sail  is  a  Latifiy 
i.e.  Mediterranean,  sail ;  gamboge  is  the  Fr.  Cambotge^ 
Cambodia,  and  indigo  is  from  Span,  indico,  Indian. 
Of  wines,  malmsey^  chiefly  remembered  in  connection 
with  George  of  Clarence,  and  malvoisie  are  doublets, 
from  Monemvasia  in  the  Morea.  Port  is  named  from 
Oporto,  i.e.  o  poj-to,  the  harbour  (cf  le  Havre),  and  sherry 
(see  p.  1 1 6)  from  Xeres,  Lat.  CcBsaris  (urbs);  cf.  Sara- 
gossa,  from  Ccesarea  Augusta. 

But  it  is  possible  to  be  mistaken  in  connecting 
countries  with  products.  Brazil  wood  is  not  named 
from  the  country,  but  vice-versd.  It  was  known  as 
a  dye-wood  as  early  as  the  I2th  century,  and  the  name 
is  found  in  many  of  the  European  languages.  The 
Portuguese  navigators  found  large  quantities  of  it  in 
South  America  and  named  the  country  accordingly. 
They  christened  an  island  Madeira,  timber,  Lat.  materia, 
for  a  similar  reason.  The  canary  comes  from  the 
Canary  Islands,  but  its  name  is  good  Latin.  The 
largest  of  these  islands,  Canaria,  was  so  called  by  the 
Romans  from  the  dogs  found  there.  The  guinea-fowl 
and  guinea  gold  came  first  from  the  west  coast  of 
Africa,  but  the  guinea-pig  is  a  native  of  Brazil.  The 
name  probably  came  from  the  Guinea-men,  or  slave- 
ships,  which  regularly  followed  a  triangular  course. 
They  sailed  outward  to  the  west  coast  of  Africa  with 
English  goods.  These  they  exchanged  for  slaves,  whom 
they  transported  to  the  West  Indies,  the  horrible 
"middle  passage,"  and  finally  they  sailed  homeward 
with  New  World  produce,  including,  no  doubt,  guinea- 
pigs  brought  home  by  sailors.  The  turkey  is  also 
called  guinea-fowl  in  the  17th  century,  probably  to  be 
explained  in  the  same  way.  The  German  name  for 
guinea-pig,  Meerschweinchen,  seems  to  mean  little  pig 
from  over  the  sea. 


52  WORDS  AND  PLACES 

Guinea  was  a  vague  geographical  expression  in  thel 
17th  century,  but  not  so  vague  as  India  or  Turkey.: 
Indian  ink  comes  from  China  (Fr.  encre  de  Chine),  and 
Indian  corn  from  America.  The  names  given  to  the 
turkey  are  extraordinary.  We  are  not  surprised  that, 
as  an  American  bird,  it  should  be  naturally  connected 
with  India;  cf.  West  Indies,  Red  Indian,  etc.  Turk 
was  in  the  i6th  and  17th  centuries  a  vague  term  for 
non-Christians — 

"Jews,  Turks,  infidels,  and  hereticks."    (Collect  for  Good  Friday.) 

and  we  find  also  Turkey  wheat  for  maize.  The  following 
names  for  the  turkey,  given  in  a  Nomenclator  in  eight 
languages,  published  in  Germany  in  1602,  do  not  exhaust 
the  list  :— 

German. — Indianisch  oder  Kalekuttisch  ^  oder  Welsch  ^  Hun. 

Dutch. — Calcoensche  oft  Turckische  Henne. 

French. — Geline  ou  pouUe  dTnde,  ou  d!Africque, 

Italian. — Gallina  ^ India. 

Spanish.— Pavon  (peacock)  de  las  Indias. 

English.— Cok  off  Inde  ! 

No  doubt  the  turkey  was  confused  with  other  birds,  for 
we  find  Yx.  geline  d'Inde  before  the  discovery  of  America. 
ninde  has  become  dinde,  whence  a  new  masculine 
dindon  has  been  formed. 

The  early  etymologists  were  fond  of  identifying 
foreign  wares  with  place-names.  They  connected  diaper 
with  Ypres,  gingham  with  Guingamp  (in  Brittany), 
drugget  with  Drogheda,  and  the  sedan  chair  with  Sedan. 
Such  guesses  are  almost  always  wrong.  The  origin  of 
diaper  is  doubtful,  that  of  drugget  quite  unknown,  and 
gingham  is  Malay.  As  far  as  we  know  at  present,  the 
sedan  came  from  Italy  in  the  i6th  century,  and  it  is 
there,  among  derivatives  ot  Lat.  sedere,  to  sit,  that  its 

'  Calicut,  not  Calcutta.  ^  See  walnut  (p.  151). 


HANSOM  63 

origin  must  be  sought,  unless  indeed  the  original  Sedan 
was  some  mute,  inglorious  Hansom} 

1  As  the  hansom  will  shortly  be  of  archaeological  interest  only,  it  may 
be  recorded  here  that  it  took  its  name  from  that  of  its  inventor — "The 
Hansoms  patent  (cab)  is  especially  constructed  for  getting  quickly  over 
the  ground"  (Pulleyn's  Etymological  Compendium^  1853).     Sic  transit t 


D3 


CHAPTER  V 

PHONETIC  ACCIDENTS 

Tpie  history  of  a  word  has  to  be  studied  from  the 
double  point  of  view  of  sound  and  sense,  or,  to  use  more 
technical  terms,  phonetics  and  semantics.  In  the 
logical  order  of  things  it  seems  natural  to  deal  first  with 
the  less  interesting  aspect,  phonetics,  the  physical 
processes  by  which  sounds  are  gradually  transformed. 
Speaking  generally,  it  may  be  said  that  phonetic 
changes  are  governed  by  the  law  of  least  resistance,  a 
sound  which  presents  difficulty  being  gradually  and 
unconsciously  modified  by  a  whole  community  or  race. 
With  the  general  principles  of  phonetics  I  do  not  propose 
to  deal,  but  a  few  simple  examples  will  serve  to  illus- 
trate the  one  great  law  on  which  this  science  is  based. 

The  population  of  this  country  is  educationally 
divided  by  the  letter  h  into  three  classes,  which  we 
may  describe  as  the  confident,  the  anxious,  and  the 
indifferent.  The  same  division  existed  in  imperial 
Rome,  where  educated  people  sounded  the  aspirate, 
which  completely  disappeared  from  the  every-day 
language  of  the  lower  classes,  the  so-called  Vulgar  Latin, 
from  which  the  Romance  languages  are  descended, 
so  far  as  their  working  vocabulary  is  concerned.  The 
anxious  class  was  also  represented.     A  Latin  epigram- 


PHONETIC  LAZINESS  55 

matist^  remarks  that  since  Arrius,  prophetic  name,  has 
visited  the  Ionic  islands,  they  will  probably  be  hence- 
forth known  as  the  Hionic  islands.  To  the  disappear- 
ance of  the  h  from  Vulgar  Latin  is  due  the  fact  that 
the  Romance  languages  have  no  aspirate.  French  still 
writes  the  initial  h  in.  some  words  by  etymological 
reaction,  e.g.,  homme  for  Old  Fr.  ome^  and  also  at  one 
time  really  had  an  aspirate  in  the  case  of  words  of 
Germanic  origin,  e.g.,  la  honte,  shame.  But  this  h  is  no 
longer  sounded,  although  it  still,  by  tradition,  prevents 
elision  and  liaison^  mistakes  in  which  are  regarded  much 
in  the  same  way  as  a  misplaced  aspirate  in  English. 
The  "  educated "  h  of  modern  English  is  largely  an 
artificial  restoration  ;  cf.  the  modern  -^(^/^/-keeper  with 
the  older  word  ostler  (see  p.  164),  or  the  family  name 
Armitage  with  the  restored  hermitage. 

We  have  dropped  the  k  sound  in  initial  kn^  as  in 
knave^  still  sounded  in  Ger.  Knabe,  boy.  French  gets 
over  the  difficulty  by  inserting  a  vowel  between  the  two 
consonants,  e.g.,  canif  is  a  Germanic  word  cognate  with 
Eng.  knife.  This  is  a  common  device  in  French  when  a 
word  of  Germanic  origin  begins  with  two  consonants. 
Cf.  Fr.  dirive^  drift,  Eng.  drive ;  Fr.  varech,  sea-weed, 
Eng.  wrack.  Harangue,  formerly  harengue^  is  Old  High 
Ger.  hring,  Eng.  ring^  the  allusion  being  to  the  circle 
formed  by  the  audience.  Fr.  chenapan,  rogue,  is  Ger. 
Schnapphahn,  robber,  lit.  fowl-stealer.  The  shallop  that 
"flitteth  silken-sail'd,  skimming  down  to  Camelot,"  is 
Fr.  chaloupe,  from  Du.  sleeps  sloop. 

The  general  dislike  that  French  has  for   a  double 

*  "Nee  sibi  postilla  metuebant  tali?  verbaj 
Cum  subito  adfertur  nuntius  horribilis, 
lonios  fluctus,  postquam  illuc  Arrius  isset, 
lam  non  lonios  esse,  sed  Hiofiios." 

{Catullus,  84.) 


66  PHONETIC  ACCIDENTS 

consonant  sound  at  the  beginning  of  a  word  appears  also 
in  the  transformation  of  all  Latin  words  which  began 
with  sc,  sp,  St,  e.g.,  scola>escole  (Jcole),  spongia> esponge 
(/ponge)y  stabulum  >  estable  (Jtable).  English  words 
derived  from  French  generally  show  the  older  form, 
but  without  the  initial  vowel,  school,  sponge^  stable. 

The  above  are  very  simple  examples  of  sound  change. 
There  are  certain  less  regular  changes,  which  appear  to 
work  in  a  more  arbitrary  fashion  and  bring  about  more 
picturesque  results.  Three  of  the  most  important  of 
these  are  assimilation,  dissimilation,  and  metathesis. 

Assimilation  is  the  tendency  of  a  sound  to  imitate 
its  neighbour.  The  tree  called  the  lime  was  formerly 
the  line,  and  earlier  still  the  Iznd.  We  see  the  older 
form  in  linden  and  in  such  place-names  as  Lyndhurst, 
lime  wood.  Line  often  occurred  in  such  compounds  as 
line-bark,  line-bast,  line-wood,  where  the  second  com- 
ponent began  with  a  lip  consonant.  The  n  became 
also  a  lip  consonant  because  it  was  easier  to  pronounce, 
and  by  the  17th  century  we  generally  find  lime  instead 
of  line.  We  have  a  similar  change  in  Lombard  for 
Ger.  lang-bart,  long-beard.  For  Liverpool  we  find  also 
Litherpool  in  early  records.  If  the  reader  attempts  to 
pronounce  both  names  rapidly,  he  will  be  able  to  form 
his  own  opinion  as  to  whether  it  is  more  natural  for 
Liverpool  to  become  Litherpool  or  vice-versa,  a  vexed 
question  with  philologists.  Fr.  vdin,  a  derivative  of 
Old  Fr.  veel  (veau),  calf,  and  venin,  Lat.  venenum^ 
have  given  Eng.  vellum  and  venom,  the  final  consonant 
being  in  each  case  assim.ilated  ^  to  the  initial  labial. 
So  also  mushroom.  Mid.  Eng.  muscheron,  Fr.  mousseron^ 
from  mousse,  moss. 

>  Apart  from  assimilation,  there  is  a  tendency  in  English  to  substitute 
-m  for  -«,  e.g.  grogram  for  grogran  (see  p.  68).  In  the  family  name  Hansom^ 
for  Hanson,  the  son  of  Hans,  we  have  dissimilation  of  n  (see  p.  57). 


DISSIMILATION  57 

Vulgar  Lat.  circare  (from  circa,  around)  gave  Old 
Fr.  cerchier,  Eng.  search.  In  modern  Fr.  chercher  the 
initial  consonant  has  been  influenced  by  the  medial  ch. 
The  ;//  of  the  curious  word  anipersandy  variously  spelt, 
is  due  to  the  neighbouring  /.  It  is  applied  to  the 
sign  &.  I  thought  it  obsolete  till  I  came  across  it  on 
successive  days  in  two  contemporary  writers — 

"  One  of  my  mother's  chief  cares  was  to  teach  me  my  letters, 
which  I  learnt  from  big  A  to  Ampersand  in  the  old  hornbook  at 
Lantrig."  (QuiLLER  CouCH,  Dead  Man's  Rock^  Ch.  2.) 

"Tommy  knew  all  about  the  work.  Knew  every  letter  in  it 
from  A  to  EmperzanP    (Pett  Ridge,  In  the  Wars.) 

Children  used  to  repeat  the  alphabet  thus  —  "A  per 
se  A,  B  per  se  B,"  and  so  on  to  "  and  per  se  and!'  The 
symbol  &  is  an  abbreviation  of  Lat.  et^  written  &. 

Dissimilation  is  the  opposite  process.  The  archaic 
word  pomander — 

"  I  have  sold  all  my  trumpery ;  not  a  counterfeit  stone,  not  a 
riband,  glass,  pomander,  brooch,  ...  to  keep  my  pack  from 
fasting."    ( Winter's  Tale,  iv.  3.) 

was  formerly  s^€i\.  pomeamber.  It  comes  from  Old  Fr. 
pome  ambre,  apple  of  amber,  a  ball  of  perfume  once 
carried  by  the  delicate.  In  this  case  one  of  the  two 
lip  consonants  has  been  dissimilated.  A  like  change 
has  occurred  in  Fr.  nappe,  cloth,  from  Lat.  mappa, 
whence  our  napkin,  apron  (p.  1 1 3),  and  the  family  name 
Napier. 

The  sound.^  most  frequently  affected  by  dissimilation 
are  those  represented  by  the  letters  /,  n,  and  r.  Fr. 
gonfalon  is  for  older  gonfanon.  Chaucer  uses  the 
older  form,  Milton  the  newer — 

"  Ten  thousand  thousand  ensignj  high  advanc'd, 
Standards  divA  gonfalons,  'twixt  van  and  rear. 
Stream  in  the  air." 

{Paradise  Lost,  v.  589.) 


1 


58  PHONETIC  ACCIDENTS 

Gonfanon   is   of  Germanic   origin.     It   means   literallj 
"battle-flag,"  and  the  second  element  is  cognate  witl 
English  fane    or    vane    (Ger.    Fahne).      Eng.  pilgrh 
and    Fr.  pelerin,   from    Lat.  peregrinus,   illustrate    th< 
change   from    r  to   /,   while   the   word  frail,  an   osier" 
basket  for  figs,  is  due  to  a  change  from  /  to  r,  which 
goes  back  to  Roman  times.     A  grammarian  of  imperial 
Rome   named  Probus  compiled,  about  the    3rd  or  4th 
century,  A.D.,  a  list  of  cautions  as  to  mispronunciation. 
In   this   list   we   find   ^^flagellum^   non  fragellmnr     In 
the   sense   of    switch,   twig,  fragellum    gave    Old    Fr. 
freely  basket  made  of  twigs,  whence  Eng.  frail ;  while 
the  correct  flagellum  gave  Old  Yi'.fleel  {flMu),  whence 
Eng.  flail.      A    Vulgar    Lat.    *moray    mulberry,   from 
Lat.  morus,  mulberry  tree,  has   given    Fr.  mUre.     The 
r  of  berry  has   brought   about   dissimilation   in   Eng. 
mulberry  and  Ger.  Maulbeere.     Colonel  has  the  spelling 
of  Fr.  colonel^  but   its  pronunciation   points   rather   to 
the  dissimilated  Spanish  form  coronel  which  is  common 
in    Elizabethan    English.      Cotgrave    has    colonel^    "a 
colonell,  or  coronell;  the  commander  of  a  regiment." 

The  female  name  Annabel  is  a  dissimilation  of 
Amabel,  whence  Mabel.  By  confusion  with  the  popular 
medieval  name  Orable,  Lat.  orabilis,  Annabel  has 
become  Arabel  or  Arabella.  Our  level  is  Old  Fr.  livel, 
Vulgar  Lat.  *libellum,  for  libella,  a  plummet,  diminutive 
of  libra,  scales.  Old  Fr.  livel  became  by  dissimilation 
nivel,  now  niveau.  Many  conjectures  have  been  made 
as  to  the  etymology  of  oriel  It  is  from  Old  Fr.  oriol,  a 
recess,  or  sanctum,  which  first  occurs  in  a  Norman 
French  poem  of  the  12th  century  on  Becket.  This  is 
from  a  Late  Latin  diminutive  aulceolum,  a  small  chapel 
or  shrine,  which  was  dissimilated  into  aurceolum. 

Sometimes  dissimilation  leads  to  the  disappearance 
of  a  consonant,  e.g.,  Eng.  feeble^  Fr.  faible,  represents 


METATHESIS  59 

\j^\..  flebilis,  lamentable,  from  flere,  to  weep.  Fugleman 
was  once  flugelinan,  from  Ger.  Fliigelmanny  wing  man, 
i.e.y  a  tall  soldier  on  the  right  wing  who  exaggerated  the 
various  movements  of  musketry  drill  for  the  guidance 
of  the  rest. 

Metathesis  is  the  transposition  of  two  sounds.  A 
simple  case  is  our  trouble,  Fr.  troubler,  from  Lat.  turbulare. 
Maggot  is  for  Mid.  Eng.  maddok,  a  diminutive  of  Anglo- 
Sax.  ma\a ;  cf.  Ger.  Made,  maggot.  Kittle,  in  the 
phrase  "kittle  cattle,"  is  identical  with  tickle;  cf.  Ger. 
kitzeln,  to  tickle.  The  most  reasonable  theory  for  the 
origin  of  tankard  is  that  it  stands  for  *cantar,  from  Lat. 
cantharus,  with  which  it  corresponds  exactly  in  meaning ; 
e.g.,  cantharus,  "a  pot,  a  jugge,  a  tankerd"  (Cooper); 
cantharo, "  a  tankard  or  jug  that  houldeth  much  "  (Florio) ; 
canthare,  "  a  great  jugge,  or  tankard"  (Cotgrave). 

Wattle  and  wallet  are  used  indifferently  in  Mid. 
English  for  a  little  bag.  Shakespeare  no  doubt  had 
in  mind  the  wattles  of  a  cock  or  turkey  when  he  made 
Gonzalo  speak  of  mountaineers — 

"  Dew-lapp'd  like  bulls,  whose  throats  had  hanging  at  them 
Wallets  of  flesh."  (Tempest,  iii.  3.) 

Fr.  moustique  is  for  earlier  mousquite,  from  Span. 
mosquito,  a  diminutive  from  Lat.  musca,  a  fly.  Tinsel  is 
Fr.  ^tincelle,  spark,  earlier  estincele,  which  supposes  a 
Lat.  *stincilla  for  scintilla.  The  old  word  anlace,  dagger, 
common  in  Mid.  English  and  revived  by  Byron  and 
Scott— 

"His  harp  in  silken  scarf  was  slung, 
And  by  his  side  an  anlace  hung." 

{Rokeby,  v.  15.) 

has  provoked  many  guesses.  Its  oldest  form,  anelas,  is 
a  metathesis  of  the  common  Old  Fr.  alenas,  dagger. 
This  is  formed  from  aline,  of  Germanic  origin,  cognate 


60  PHONETIC  ACCIDENTS 

with  awl;  cf.  cutlass,  Fr.  coutelas  (p.  126).  Beverage  \i 
from  Old  Fr.  bevrage,  or  beuvi^age,  now  breuvage,  Vulgai 
Lat.  *biberaticumy  from  bibere,  to  drink.  Here,  as  ii 
the  case  of  level  (p.  58),  and  search  (p.  57),  Englisl 
preserves  the  older  form.  In  Martello  tower,  from 
fort  taken  by  the  British  (1794)  in  Mortella,  ix.,  Myrtle,j 
Bay,  Corsica,  we  have  vowel  metathesis. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  such  linguistic' 
phenomena  are  often  observed  in  the  case  of  children 
and  uneducated  people.  Not  long  ago  the  writer  was 
urged  by  a  gardener  to  embellish  his  garden  with  a 
ruskit  arch.  When  metathesis  extends  beyond  one 
word  we  have  what  is  known  as  a  Spoonerism^  the 
original  type  of  which  is  said  to  be — 

^^  Kinquerings  congs  their  titles  take." 

We  have  seen  (p.  57)  that  the  letters  /,  n,  r  are 
particularly  subject  to  dissimilation  and  metathesis. 
But  we  sometimes  find  them  alternating  without 
apparent  reason.  Thus  banister  is  a  modern  form  for 
the  correct  baluster}  This  was  not  at  first  applied  to 
the  rail,  but  to  the  bulging  colonets  on  which  it  rests. 
Fr.  balustre  comes,  through  Italian,  from  Greco-Lat. 
balaustiunty  a  pomegranate  flower,  the  shape  of  which 
resembles  the  supports  of  a  balustrade.  Cotgrave 
explains  balustres  as  "  ballisters ;  little,  round  and  short 
pillars,  ranked  on  the  outside  of  cloisters,  terraces, 
galleries,  etc."  Glamour  is  a  doublet  of  grammar 
(see  p.  145),  and  flounce  was  formerly  frounce^  from  Fr. 
fr  oncer ^  now  only  used  of  "knitting"  the  brows — 

"  Till  civil-suited  morn  appear, 
Not  trickt  Sindfrounc't  as  she  was  wont 
With  the  Attic  boy  to  hunt." 

{Penseroso^  I.  123.) 

•  Cf,  the  similar  change  in  the  family  name  Banister  (p.  179), 


SHRINKAGE  OF  WORDS  61 

¥r.  fitbustter,  whence  our  filibuster,  was  GdixWo^r  fribiistiery 
a  corruption  of  Du.  vrijbuiter,  whence  directly  the  Eng. 
freebooter} 

All  words  tend  in  popular  usage  to  undergo  a 
certain  amount  of  shrinkage.  The  reduction  of  Lat. 
digitale^  from  digitus^  fir>ger,  to  Fr.  d^^  thimble  (little 
thumb)  is  a  striking  example.  The  strong  tonic  accent 
of  English,  which  is  usually  on  the  first,  or  root,  syllable, 
brings  about  a  kind  of  telescoping  which  makes  us  very 
unintelligible  to  foreigners.  This  is  seen  in  the 
pronunciation  of  names  such  as  Cholmondeley  and 
Marjoribanks.  Bethlehem  hospital,  for  lunatics,  becomes 
bedlam;  Mary  Magdalene^  taken  as  a  type  of  tearful 
repentance,  gives  us  maudlin,  now  generally  used  of  the 
lachrymose  stage  of  intoxication.  Sacristan  is  con- 
tracted into  sexton.  Fr.  paralysie  becomes  palsy,  and 
hydropisie  becomes  dropsy.  The  fuller  form  of  the  word 
usually  persists  in  the  literary  language,  or  is  artificially 
introduced  at  a  later  period,  so  that  we  get  such 
doublets  as  proctor  and  procurator. 

In  the  case  of  French  words  which  have  a  prefix, 
this  prefix  is  almost  regularly  dropped  in  English,  e.g., 
raiment  for  ari^ayment ;  while  suffixes,  or  final  syllables, 
often  disappear,  e.g.,  treasure  trove,  for  Old  Fr.  trov^ 
{trouvt),  or  become  assimilated  to  some  familiar  English 
ending,  Q.g., parish,  Yr.paroisse,  skirmish,  Fr.  escarmouche; 
cartridge,  Fr.  cartouche,  partridge,  Fr.  perdrix.  A  good 
example  of  such  shrinkage  is  the  word  vamp,  part"  of  a 
shoe,  Old  Fr.  avant-pie  {pied),  which  became  Mid.  Eng. 
vampey,   and    then    lost    its    final    syllable.     We   may 

*  It  may  be  noted  here  that  a  buccaneer  was  not  originally  a  pirate,  but 
a  man  whose  business  was  the  smoking  of  beef  in  the  West  Indies.  The 
name  comes  from  a  native  word  boucan,  adopted  into  French,  and  explained 
by  Cotgrave  as  a  "  woodden-gridiron  whereon  the  cannibals  broile  pieces  of 
men,  and  other  flesh." 


62  PHONETIC  ACCIDENTS 

compare  vambrace^  armour  for  the  forearm,  Fr.  avant- 
braSy  vanguard^  Fr.  avant-garde^  often  reduced  to  van — 

"  Go,  charge  Agrippa 
Plant  those  that  have  revolted  in  the  van; 
That  Antony  may  seem  to  spend  his  fury 
Upon  himself." 

{^Antony  and  Cleopatra^  iv.  6.) 

and  the  obsolete  vaunt-courier ^  forerunner — 

"  You  sulphurous  and  thought-executing  fires, 
Vaunt-couriers  of  oak-cleaving  thunderbolts." 

{Lear^  iii.  3.) 

When  the  initial  vowel  is  ^-,  its  loss  may  have  been 
helped  by  confusion  with  the  indefinite  article.  Thus 
for  anatomy  we  find  atomy ^  for  a  skeleton  or  scarecrow 
figure,  applied  by  Mistress  Quickly  to  the  constable  (2 
Henry  IV. ^  v.  4).  Peal  is  for  appeal^  call ;  mend  for  amende 
lone  for  alone^  i.e.,  all  one.     Peach,  used  by  Falstaff— 

**  If  I  be  ta'en,  V\\  peach  for  this." 

(i  Henry  /F.,  ii.  2.) 

is  for  older  appeach,  related  to  impeach.  Size,  in  all  its 
senses,  is  for  assize,  Fr.  assise,  with  a  general  meaning  of 
allowance  or  assessment,  from  Fr.  asseoir,  to  put,  lay. 
Sizars  at  Cambridge  are  properly  students  in  receipt 
of  certain  allowances  called  sizings.  With  painters'  size 
we  may  compare  Ital.  assisa,  ^^ size  that  painters  use" 
(Florio).  We  use  the  form  assize  in  speaking  of  the 
"  sitting  "  of  the  judges,  but  those  most  familiar  with  this 
tribunal  speak  of  being  tried  at  the  ^ sizes.  The  obsolete 
word  cate,  on  which  Petruchio  plays — 

"  For  dainties  are  all  cates—zxi^  therefore,  Kate, 
Take  this  of  me,  Kate  of  my  consolation." 

{Taming  of  the  Shrew,  ii.  i.) 

IS  for  earlier  acate,  an  Old  French  dialect  form  corre- 
sponding to  modern    Fr.  achat,  purchase.    The    man 


APHESIS  63 

entrusted  with  purchasing  was  called  an  acatour  or 
catour  (whence  the  name  Cator)^  later  cater,  now 
extended  to  caterer,  like  fruiterer  for  fruiter,  poulterer 
for  poulter  and  upholsterer  for  upholdster  or  upholder} 
Limbeck  has  been  squeezed  out  by  the  orthodox 
alembic — 

"  Memory  the  warder  of  the  brain, 
Shall  be  a  fume,  and  the  receipt  of  reason 
A  limbeck  only," 

{Macbeth,  i.  7.) 

and  prentice  has  given  way  to  apprentice.  Tire  and 
attire  both  survive,  and  maze  persists  by  the  side  of 
amaze  with  the  special  sense  which  I  have  heard  a  Notts 
collier  express  by  puzzle-garden  {cf  Ger.  Irrgarten). 
Binnacle  is  a  corruption,  perhaps  due  to  association  with 
bin,  of  earlier  bittacle,  from  Lat.  habitaculum,  a  little 
dwelling.  It  may  have  come  to  us  through  Fr.  habitacle 
or  Port,  bitacola,  "  the  bittacle,  a  frame  cf  timber  in  the 
steerage,  where  the  compass  is  placed  on  board  a  ship" 
(Vieyra,  Port.  Diet.,  1794).  As  King  of  Scotland,  King 
George  has  a  household  official  known  as  the  li7nner,  or 
painter.  For  limner'^  we  find  in  the  15th  century 
lumner  and  luminour,  which  is  aphetic  for  alluminour,  or 
enlumineur.  Cotgrave,  s.v.  enlumineur  de  livres,  says, 
"  we  call  one  that  coloureth,  or  painteth  upon,  paper,  or 
parchment,  an  allutniner^^ 

But  confusion  with  the  article   is  not  necessary  in 
order  to  bring  about  aphesis.      It  occurs  regularly  in 

*  upholsterer  has  become  specialised  in  sense ;  cf.  undertaker  (of  funerals), 
and  stationer,  properly  a  tradesman  with  a  station  or  stall.  Costermonger 
illustrates  the  converse  process.  It  meant  originally  a  dealer  in  costards, 
i.e.  apples.  The  French  costermonger  has  the  more  appropriate  name  of 
marchand  des  quatre  saisons. 

*  English  i  sometimes  occurs  as  an  attempt  at  the  French  and  Celtic  u; 
cf.  brisk  from  brusque,  periwig  (p.  69),  and  whisky  (p.  68). 


64  PHONETIC  ACCIDENTS 

the  case  of  words  beginning  with  esc,  esp,  est,  borrowed 
from  Old  French  (see  p.  56).  Thus  we  have  squire 
from  escuyer  {ecuyer\  skew  from  Old  Fr.  eschuer,  to 
dodge,  "  eschew,"  ultimately  cognate  with  Eng.  shy,  spice 
from  espice  (Jpice),  sprite  from  esprit,  stage  from  estage 
{^tage\  etc.  In  some  cases  we  have  the  fuller  form  also, 
e.g.,  esquire,  eschew ;  cf.  sample  and  example.  Fender, 
whether  before  a  fireplace  or  slung  outside  a  ship,  is 
for  defender ;  fence  is  always  for  defence,  either  in  the 
sense  of  a  barrier  or  in  allusion  to  the  noble  art  of  self- 
defence.^  The  te7ider  of  a  ship  or  of  a  locomotive  is 
the  attender,  and  taint  is  aphetic  for  attaint,  Fr.  atteinte, 
touch — 

"  I  will  not  poison  thee  with  my  attaints 

{Lucrece,  1.  1072.) 

Puzzle  was  in  Mid.  Eng.  opposaile,  i.e.,  something  put 
before  one.     We  still  speak  of  "  a  poser." 

Spital,  for  hospital,  survives  in  Spitalfields,  and 
Spittlegate  at  Grantham  and  elsewhere.  Crew  is  for 
accrewe  (Holinshed).  It  meant  properly  a  reinforcement, 
lit.  on-growth,  from  Fr.  accrottre,  to  accrue.  In  recruit, 
we  have  a  later  instance  of  the  same  idea.  Fr.  recrue^ 
recruit,  from  recroitre,  to  grow  again,  is  still  feminine, 
like  many  other  military  terms  which  were  originally 
abstract  or  collective.  Cotgrave  has  recreue,  "  a  supplie, 
or  filling  up  of  a  defective  company  of  souldiers,  etc." 
We  have  possum  for  opossum,  and  coon  for  racoon,  and 
this   for  arrahacoune,  which  I  find   in   a   16th-century 

*  Our  ancestors  appear  to  have  been  essentially  pacific  WvCixJence,  for 
defence,  we  may  compare  Ger.  schirmen,  to  fence,  from  Schirm,  screen  (cf. 
Regenschirm,  umbrella),  which,  passing  through  Italian  and  French,  has 
given  us  skirmish,  scrimmage,  scaramouch  (see  p.  142),  and  Shakespearean 
scrtmer,  fencer  {Hamlet,  iv.  7).  So  also  Ger.  Gewehr,  weapon,  is  cognate 
with  Eng,  weir^  and  means  defence — 

*'  Get  animal  est  trfes  m^chant ; 
Quand  on  I'attaque,  il  se  defend." 


APHESIS  65 

record  of  travel ;  cf,  American  skeeter  for  mosquito.  In 
these  two  cases  we  perhaps  have  also  the  deliberate 
intention  to  shorten  (see  p.  66),  as  also  in  the  obsolete 
Australian  tench,  for  the  aphetic  ^tentiaryy  i.e.,  penU 
tentiary.    With  this  we  may  compare  Hec  for  detective, 

Drawing-roo7n  is  for  withdrawing  room,  and  only 
the  final  t  of  saint  is  left  in  Tooley  St.,  famed  for  its 
three  tailors,  formerly  Saint  Olave  Street,  and  tawdry. 
This  latter  word  is  well  known  to  be  derived  from  Saint 
Audrey's  fair.     It  was  not  originally  depreciatory — 

"  Come,  you  promised  me  a  tawdry  lace,  and  a  pair  of  sweet 
gloves."    ( Winter's  Tale,  iv.  3.) 

and  the  full  form  is  recorded  by  Palsgrave,  who  has 
Seynt  Andries  (read  Audrie's)  lace,  "cordon."  The  verb 
vie  comes  from  Fr.  envi,  Lat.  invitus,  unwilling,  in  the 
phrase  a  Venvi  Vun  de  Vautre,  "  in  emulation  one  of 
the  other"  (Cotgrave);  of.  gin  (trap),  Fr.  engin,  Lat. 
ingenium.  The  prefix  dis  or  des  is  lost  in  Spencer  (see 
p.  165),  spite,  splay,  sport,  stain,  etc. 

In  drat,  formerly  ^od  rot,  zounds  for  Gods  wounds^ 
*sdeath,  odsbodikins,  etc.,  there  is  probably  a  deliberate 
avoidance  of  profanity.  The  same  intention  appears  in 
Gogs— 

"  *Ay,  hy  gogswotms  !*  quoth  he  ;  and  swore  so  loud, 
That,  all  amaz'd,  the  priest  let  fall  the  book." 

{J  aming  of  the  Shrew,  iii.  2.) 

Cf.  Fr.  parbleu  for  par  Dieu,  and  Ger.  Potz  for  Gottes. 

This  English  tendency  to  aphesis  is  satirised  in 
a  French  song  of  the  14th  century,  intentionally 
written  in  bad  French.     Thus,  in  the  line — 

"Or  sont  il  vint  le  tans  que  Glais  voura  vauchier."^ 

Glais  is   for  Anglais  and   vauchier  is   for  chevauchier 

^  '•  Now  the  time  has  come  when  the  English  will  wish  to  ride." 

E 


66  PHONETIC  ACCIDENTS 

{chevaucher)^  to  ride  on  a  foray.  The  literary  language 
runs  counter  to  this  instinct,  though  Shakespeare 
wrote  haviour  for  behaviour  and  longing  for  belongings 
while  such  forms  as  billiments  for  habiliments  and 
sparagus  for  asparagus  are  regular  up  to  the  i8th 
century.  Children  keep  up  the  national  practice  when 
they  say  member  for  remember  and  zamine  for  examine. 
It  is  quite  certain  that  baccy  and  later  would  be  recog- 
nised literary  forms  if  America  had  been  discovered 
two  centuries  sooner  or  printing  invented  two  centuries 
later. 

Many  words  are  shortened,  not  by  natural  and 
gradual  shrinkage,  but  by  deliberate  laziness.  The 
national  distaste  for  many  syllables  appears  in  wire  for 
telegram^  the  Artful  Dodger's  wipe  for  the  oXwvci^y  pocket 
handkerchiefs  soccer  for  association ^  and  such  portmanteau 
words  as  squarson^  an  individual  who  is  at  once  squire 
and  parson^  or  Bakerloo  for  Baker  St.  and  Waterloo. 

The  simplest  way  of  reducing  a  word  is  to  take  the 
first  syllable  and*  make  it  a  symbol  for  the  rest.  Of  com- 
paratively modern  formation  3.rQ pub  and  Zoo^  with  which 
we  may  compare  Barfs^  for  Saint  Bartholomew's,  Cri^ 
Pav,  "half  a  mo'y^  bike^  and  e.w&VLpaj\  iox pageant. 

This  method  of  shortening  words  was  very  popular 
in  the  17th  century,  from  which  period  date  a/(izen), 
inobi^Q.  vulgus),  the  fickle  crowd,  and/2/;^(digrion).  We 
often  find  the  fuller  mobile  used  for  mob.  The  origin 
of  pundigrion  is  uncertain.  It  may  be  an  illiterate 
attempt  at  Ital.  puntiglio^  which,  like  Fr.  pointe^  was 
used  of  a  verbal  quibble  or  fine  distinction.  Most  of 
these  clipped  forms  are  easily  identified,  e.g.,  ^^(^(riolet), 
gent{\^vci^xi)y  hack{nQy)y  z;^/(erinary  surgeon).  Cad  is  for 
Scot,  caddie,  errand  boy,  now  familiar  in  connection  with 
golf,  and  caddie  is  from  Fr.  cadet,  younger.  The  word 
had   not   always   the   very   strong    meaning    we    now 


CLIPPED  FORMS  67 

associate  with  it.  Among  Sketches  by  Boz  is  one 
entitled — 

"The  last  Cab  driver  and  the  first  Omnibus  Ca^." 

where  cad  means  conductor.  On  tick^  for  on  ticket^  is 
found  in  the  17th  century.  We  may  compare  the  more 
modern  biz  and  spec.  Brig  is  for  brigantine^  Ital. 
brigantino,  "  a  kinde  of  pinnasse  or  small  barke  called  a 
brigantine^^  (Florio).  The  original  meaning  is  pirate 
ship ;  cf  brigand.  Wag  has  improved  in  meaning.  It 
is  for  older  waghalter.  Cotgrave  has  baboin  {babouin)^ 
"  a  trifling,  busie,  or  crafty  knave ;  a  crackrope,  wag- 
halter^ etc."  The  older  sense  survives  in  the  phrase  "  to 
play  the  wagl^  i.e.  truant.  For  the  "  rope  "  figure  we  may 
compare  Scot,  henipie^  a  minx,  and  obsolete  Ital. 
cavestroloy  a  diminutive  from  Lat.  capistrum^  halter, 
explained  by  Florio  as  "  a  wag^  a  haltersacke."  Modern 
Ital.  capestro  is  used  in  the  same  sense.  Crack-rope  is 
shortened  to  crack.  Justice  Shallow  remembered 
Falstaff  breaking  Skogan's  head — 

"When  he  was  a  cracky  not  thus  high.* 

(2  Henry  /K,  iii.  2.) 

Chap  is  for  chapman^  once  in  general  use  for  a 
merchant  and  still  a  common  family  name.  It  is 
cognate  with  cheapo  chaffer^  and  Ger.  kaufen^  to  buy,  and 
probably  also  with  Lat.  caupo^  tavern  keeper.  We  have 
the  Dutch  form  in  horse-couper^  and  also  in  the  word 
coopering ^  the  illicit  sale  of  spirits  by  Dutch  boats  to 
North  Sea  fishermen.^  Merchant  was  used  by  the 
Elizabethans  in  the  same  way  as  our  chap.  Thus  the 
Countess  of  Auvergne  calls  Talbot  a  "riddling  merchant* 

^  Cf.  also  Dan.  Kjobenhavn  (Copenhagen),  the  merchants'  haven,  the 
numerous  Swedish  place-names  ending  in  -ksping^  t.g,  JonkSping^  and  our 
own  Chippings^  or  market-towns. 


68  PHONETIC  ACCIDENTS 

(i  Henry  VI.,  ii.  3).  We  may  also  compare  Scot. 
callanty  lad,  from  the  Picard  form  of  Fr.  chaland^ 
customer — 

"  He  had  seen  many  a  braw  callant,  far  less  than  Guse  Gibbie, 
fight  brawly  under  Montrose."    {Old  Mortality^  Ch.  i.) 

and  our  own  expression  "a  rum  customer"  reduced 
in  America  to  "a  rum  cuss'^  Hocky  for  Hochhewter^ 
wine  from  Hochheim,  occurs  as  early  as  Beau- 
mont and  Fletcher ;  and  runty  spirit,  is  for  earlier 
rumbullion^  of  obscure  origin.  Gin  is  for  geneva^  a 
corruption  of  Fr.  genievre^  Lat.  j^niperuSy  from  the 
berries  of  which  it  is  distilled.  The  history  of  grog  is 
more  complicated.  The  stuff  called  grogram^  earlier 
grograyne^  is  from  Fr.  gros  grain^  coarse  grain.  Admiral 
Vernon  ( 1 8th  century)  was  called  by  the  sailors  "Old 
Grog"  from  his  habit  of  wearing  grogram  breeches. 
When  he  issued  orders  that  the  regular  allowance 
of  rum  was  henceforth  to  be  diluted  with  water,  the 
sailors  promptly  baptized  the  mixture  with  his  nick- 
name. 

Sometimes  the  two  first  syllables  survive.  We  have 
navvy  for  navigator,  brandy  for  brandywine^  from  Du. 
brandewyn,  lit.  burnt  wine,  and  whisky  for  usquebaugh, 
Gaelic  uisge-beatha,  water  of  life  (cf  eau-de-vie),  so  that 
the  literal  meaning  of  whisky  is  very  innocent.  It  has 
a  doublet  in  the  river-name  Usk.  Before  the  i8th 
century  usquebaugh  is  the  regular  form.  In  the  follow- 
ing passage  the  Irish  variety  is  referred  to — 

"The  prime  is  usquebaugh,  which  cannot  be  made  anywhere  in 
that  perfection  ;  and  whereas  we  drink  it  here  in  aqua  vita 
measures,  it  goes  down  there  by  beer-glassfuls,  being  more  natural 
to  the  nation."    (Howell,  1634.) 

Canter  is  for  Canterbury  gallop,  the  pace  of  pilgrims 


CLIPPED  FORMS  69 

riding  to  the  shrine  of  St  Thomas.  John  Dennis,  known 
as  Dennis  the  Critic,  says  of  Pope — 

"  Boileau's  Pegasus  has  all  his  paces.  The  Pegasus  of  Pope, 
like  a  Kentish  post-horse,  is  always  on  the  Canterbury." 

{On  the  Preliminaries  to  the  Dunciad.) 

In  bugle,  for  bugle-horny  lit.  wild-ox-horn,  Old  ¥v.  bugle, 
Lat  <^2/<^/^j,  a  diminutive  of  i^<?^,  ox,  we  have  perhaps  rather 
an  ellipsis,  like  waterproof  {co^'C),  than  a  clipped  form — 

"  Comrades,  leave  me  here  a  little,  while  as  yet  'tis  early  morn  : 
Leave  me  here,  and  when  you  want  me,  sound  upon  the  bugle- 
horn:'  {Locksley  Hall.) 

Patter  is  no  doubt  iox  paternoster — 

"  Fitz-Eustace,  you,  with  Lady  Clare, 
May  bid  your  beads  z.ndi patter  prayer." 

{Mannion,  vi.  27.) 
and  the   use  of  the  word  marble  for  a  toy  sometimes 
made  of  that  stone  makes  it  very  probable  that  the  alley, 
most  precious  of  marbles,  is  short  for  alabaster. 

Less  frequently  the  final  syllable  is  selected,  e.g.,  bus 
for  omnibus,  loo  for  lanterloo,  variously  spelt  in  the  17th 
and  1 8th  centuries — 

"  Ev'n  mighty  Pam,i  that  Kings  and  Queens  o'erthrew, 
And  mow'd  down  armies  in  the  fights  of  lu." 

{Rape  0/  the  Lock,  iii.  62.) 

Fr.  lanturelu  was  originally  the  meaningless  refrain 
or  "  tol  de  rol "  of  a  popular  song  in  Richelieu's  time. 
Van  is  for  caravan,  a  Persian  word,  properly  a  company 
of  merchants  or  ships  travelling  together,  "also  of 
late  corruptly  used  with  us  for  a  kind  of  waggon  to 
carry  passengers  to  and  from  London  "  (Blount,  Glosso- 
graphia,  1674).  Wig  is  for  periwig,  a  corruption  of 
Vr.perruque,  of  obscure  origin.  '  Varsity,  for  university, 
and  Sam  Weller's  'Tizer,  for  Morning  Advertiser, 
belong  to  the  19th  century. 

^  The  knave  of  clubs.     The  name  was  also  given  to  Lord  Palmerston. 

E  2 


70  PHONETIC  ACCIDENTS 

Christian  names  are  treated  in  the  same  way. 
Alexander  gives  Alec  and  Sandy ^  Herbert^  'Erb  or  Bert 
lb  (see  p.  172)  was  once  common  for  Isabella^  while  the 
modern  language  prefers  Bella;  Maud  for  Matilda  is 
a  telescoped  form  of  Old  ¥y.  Maheut^  while  ^  Tilda 
is   perhaps  due  to  unconscious   aphesis,  like  Denry — 

"  She  saved  a  certain  amount  of  time  every  day  by  addressing 
her  son  as  "^Denry^  instead  of  Edward  Henry  "■  (Arnold 
Bennett,  The  Cardy  Ch.  i.) 

Among  conscious  word-formations  may  be  classed 
many  reduplicated  forms,  whether  riming,  as  hurly- 
burly,  or  alliterative,  as  tittle-tattle y  though  reduplication 
belongs  to  the  natural  speech  of  children,  and,  in  at 
least  one  case,  Fr.  tante,  from  ante-ante,  Lat.  amita,  the 
baby  word  has  prevailed.  In  a  reduplicated  form  only 
one  half  as  a  rule  needs  to  be  explained.  Thus  seesaw 
is  from  saWy  the  motion  suggesting  two  sawyers  at 
work  on  a  log.  Zigzag  is  based  on  zag,  cognate  with 
Ger.  Zackey  tooth,  point.  Shilly-shally  is  for  shill  /,  shall 
I?  Namby-pamby  commemorates  the  poet  Ambrose 
Philips,  who  was  thus  nicknamed  by  Pope  and  his 
friends.     The  weapon  called  a  snickersnee — 

** '  First  let  me  say  my  catechism, 

Which  my  poor  mammy  taught  to  me.* 
*  Make  haste,  make  haste,'  says  guzzling  Jimmy, 
While  Jack  pulled  out  his  snickersnee.^^ 

(Thackeray,  Little  Billeey  1.  21.) 

is  of  Dutch  origin  and  means  something  like  "  cut  and 
thrust."  It  is  usually  mentioned  in  connection  with  the 
Hollanders — 

"Among  other  customs  they  have  in  that  town,  one  is,  that 
none  must  carry  a  pointed  knife  about  him;  which  makes  the 
Hollander,  who  is  us'd  to  snik  and  snee,  to  leave  his  horn-sheath 
and  knife  a  ship-board  when  he  comes  ashore."  (Howell,  letter 
from  Florence,  1621.) 


PREFIXED  CONSONANTS  71 

The  compound  does  not  occur  in  Dutch.     It  is  rather 

an  English  variant  on  Du.  S7tee,  cut.  Reduplication 
is  also  responsible  for  pickaback^  earlier  pickpack,  from 
pack^  bundle.  The  modern  form  is  due  to  popular  asso- 
ciation with  back. 

Occasionally  we  have  what  is  apparently  the 
arbitrary  prefixing  of  a  consonant,  e.g.,  spruce  for  pruce 
(p.  48).  Dapple  gray  corresponds  so  exactly  to  Fr. 
gris  pommele^  Mid.  Eng.  pomeli  gris,  Ger.  apfelg7'au ^^.nd 
Ital.  pomellato,  "spotted,  bespeckled,  pide,  dapple-graze^ 
or  fleabitten,  the  colour  of  a  horse "  (Florio),  that  it  is 
hard  not  to  believe  in  an  unrecorded  *apple-gray^ 
especially  as  we  have  daffodil  for  earlier  affodil^  i.e., 
asphodel.  Cotgrave  has  asphodile  {asphodele\  "the 
daffadill^  affodill,  or  asphodill^  flower."  The  playful 
elaboration  daffadowndilly  is  as  old  as  Spenser. 


CHAPTER  VI 

WORDS  AND   MEANINGS 

We  have  all  noticed  the  fantastic  way  in  which  ideas 
are  linked  together  in  our  thoughts.  One  thing 
suggests  another  with  which  it  is  accidentally  asso- 
ciated in  memory,  the  second  suggests  a  third,  and, 
in  the  course  even  of  a  few  seconds,  we  find  that 
we  have  travelled  from  one  subject  to  another  so 
remote  that  it  requires  an  effort  to  reconstruct  the 
series  of  links  which  connects  them.  The  same  thing 
happens  with  words.  A  large  number  of  words, 
despite  great  changes  of  sense,  retain  the  fundamental 
meaning  of  the  original,  but  in  many  cases  this  is  quite 
lost.  A  truer  image  than  that  of  the  linked  chain 
would  be  that  of  a  sphere  giving  off  in  various 
directions  a  number  of  rays  each  of  which  may  form 
the  nucleus  of  a  fresh  sphere.  Or  we  may  say  that  at 
each  link  of  the  chain  there  is  a  possibility  of  another 
chain  branching  off  in  a  direction  of  its  own.  In 
Cotgrave's  time  to  garble  (see  p.  21)  and  to  canvass^  i.e. 
sift  through  canvas^  meant  the  same  thing.  Yet  how 
different  is  their  later  sense  development. 

There  is  a  word  ban^  found  in  Old  High  German 
and  Anglo-Saxon,  and  meaning,  as  far  back  as  it  can 
be  traced,  a  proclamation  containing  a  threat,  hence  a 
command  or  prohibition.  We  have  it  in  banish^  to  put 
under  the  ban.  The  proclamation  idea  survives  in  the 
banns  of  marriage  and  in  Fr.  arriere-ban^  "  a  proclama- 
ri 


BAN— BUREAU  73 

tion,  whereby  those  that  hold  authority  of  the  king  in 
mesne  tenure,  are  summoned  to  assemble,  and  serve 
him  in  his  warres  "  (Cotgrave).  This  is  folk-etymology 
for  Old  Fr.  arbaUy  Old  High  Ger.  hart-ban^  army 
summons.  Slanting  off  from  the  primitive  idea  of 
proclamation  is  that  of  rule  or  authority.  The  French 
for  outskirts  is  banlieue^  properly  the  "circuit  of  a 
league,  or  thereabouts  "  (Cotgrave)  over  which  the  local 
authority  extended.  All  public  institutions  within  such 
a  radius  were  associated  with  ban^  e.g.,  unfour,  un  moulin 
a  batty  "  a  comon  oven  or  mill  whereat  all  men  may,  and 
every  tenant  and  vassall  must,  bake,  and  grind " 
(Cotgrave).  The  French  adjective  banal,  used  in  this 
connection,  gradually  developed  from  the  meaning  of 
"common"  that  of " common-place,"  in  which  sense  it 
is  now  familiar  in  English.^ 

Bureau,  a  desk,  was  borrowed  from  French  in  the 
17th  century.  In  modern  French  it  means  not  only 
the  desk,  but  also  the  office  itself  and  the  authority 
exercised  by  the  office.  Hence  our  familiar  bureaucracy ^ 
likely  to  become  increasingly  familiar.  The  desk  was 
so  called  because  covered  with  bureau^  Old  Fr.  buret, 
"a  thicke  course  cloath,  of  a  brown  russet,  or  darke 
mingled,  colour"  (Cotgrave),  whence  Mid.  Eng.  borel, 
rustic,  clownish,  lit.  roughly  clad,  which  occurs  as  late 
as  Spenser — 

"  How  be  I  am  but  rude  and  barrel. 
Yet  nearer  ways  I  know." 

{Shepherds  Calendar,  July,  1.  95.) 

With  this  we  may  compare  the  metaphorical  use  of 
homespun — 

"What  hempen  homespuns  have  we  swaggering  here, 
So  near  the  cradle  of  the  fairy  queen  ?  " 

{Midsummer  Nighfs  Dream,  iii.  i.) 

•  Archaic  Eng.  bannal  already  existed  in  the  technical  sense. 


74  WORDS  AND  MEANINGS 

The  source  of  Old  Fr.  burel  is  perhaps  Lat.  burrus^  fiery, 
from  Gk.  -Kvp,  fire. 

Romance  was  originally  an  adverb.  To  write  in  the 
vulgar  tongue,  instead  of  in  classical  Latin,  was  called 
romanice  scribere^  Old  Fr.  romanz  escrire.  When  romanz 
became  felt  as  a  noun,  it  developed  a  "  singular  "  roman 
or  romant^  the  latter  of  which  gave  the  archaic  Eng. 
romaunt.  The  most  famous  of  Old  French  romances 
are  the  epic  poems  called  Chansons  de  geste^  songs  of 
exploits,  geste  coming  from  the  Lat.  gesta^  deeds.  Eng. 
gest  or  jest  is  common  in  the  i6th  and  17th  centuries  in 
the  sense  of  act,  deed,  and  j>j-^-book  meant  a  story-book. 
As  the  favourite  story-books  were  merry  tales,  the  word 
gradually  acquired  its  present  meaning. 

A  part  of  our  Anglo-Saxon  church  vocabulary  was 
supplanted  by  Latin  or  French  words.  Thus  Anglo- 
Sax,  ge-bed^  prayer,  was  gradually  expelled  by  Old 
Fr.  preiere  {priere\  Lat.  precaria.  It  has  survived  in 
beadsman — 

**  The  beadsman^  after  thousand  aves  told, 
For  aye  unsought-for  slept  among  his  ashes  cold." 

(Keats,  Eve  of  St  Agnes,) 

beadrolly  and  bead,  now  applied  only  to  the  humble 
device  employed  in  counting  prayers. 

Not  only  the  Romance  languages,  but  also  German 
and  Dutch,  adopted,  with  the  Roman  character,  Lat. 
scribere^  to  write.  English,  on  the  contrary,  preserved 
the  native  to  write,  i.e.  to  scratch  (runes),  giving  to 
scribere  only  a  limited  sense,  to  shrive.  The  curious 
change  of  meaning  was  perhaps  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
priestly  absolution  was  felt  as  having  the  validity  of  a 
"written"  law  or  enactment. 

The  meaning  which  we  generally  give  to  pudding 
is  comparatively  modern.  The  older  sense  appears 
in  black  pudding,  a  sausage  made  of  pig's  blood.     This 


PUDDING— SI  ICKLER  75 

is  also  the  meaning  of  Fr.  boudin,  whence  pudding 
comes.  A  still  older  meaning  of  both  words  is 
intestine,  a  sense  still  common  in  dialect.  The  deriva- 
tion of  the  word  is  obscure,  but  it  is  probably  related  to 
Fr.  bonder^  to  pout,  whence  boudoir,  lit.  a  sulking-room. 

A  hearse,  now  the  vehicle  in  which  a  coffin  is 
carried,  is  used  by  Shakespeare  for  a  coffin  or  tomb. 
Its  earlier  meaning  is  a  framework  to  support  candles, 
usually  put  round  the  coffin  at  a  funeral.  This  frame- 
work was  so  named  from  some  resemblance  to  a 
harrow,^  Fr.  herse,  Lat.  hirpex,  hirpic-,  a  rake. 

Treacle  is  a  stock  example  of  great  change  of 
meaning.  It  is  used  in  Coverdale's  Bible  (1535)  for 
the  "  balm  in  Gilead  "  of  the  Authorised  Version — 

"There  is  no  more  triacle  at  Galaad."^     (Jeremiah,  vii.  22.) 

Old  Fr.  triacle  is  from  Greco-Lat.  theriaca,  a  remedy 
against  poison  or  snake-bite  {Orjp,  a  wild  beast).  In 
Mid.  English  and  later  it  was  used  of  a  sovereign 
remedy.  It  has,  like  simp  (p.  146),  acquired  its  present 
meaning  via  the  apothecary's  shop. 

A  stickler  is  now  a  man  who  is  fussy  about  small 
points  of  etiquette  or  procedure.  In  Shakespeare  he  is 
one  who  parts  combatants — 

"  The  dragon  wing  of  night  o'erspreads  the  earth, 
And,  stickler-Vi^t,  the  armies  separates." 

{Troilus  and  Cressida,  v.  8.) 

An  earlier  sense  is  that  of  seeing  fair-play.  The  word 
has  been  popularly  associated  with  the  stick,  or  staff, 
used   by   the    umpires   in    duels,   and    Torriano   gives 

^  This  is  the  usual  explanation.  But  Fr.  herse  also  acquired  the  mean- 
ing "portcullis,"  the  pointed  bars  of  which  were  naturally  likened  to  the 
"blades  of  a  harrow  ;  and  it  seems  possible  that  it  is  to  this  later  sense  that 
we  owe  the  older  English  meaning  of  hearse  (see  p.  154). 

^  "  Numquid  resina  non  est  in  Galaad  ? "    {Vulgate^ 


76  WOUDS  AND  MEANINGS 

stickler  as  one  of  the  meanings  of  bastoniere^  a  verger 
or  mace-bearer.  But  it  probably  comes  from  Mid.  Eng. 
stightlen,  to  arrange,  keep  order  (see  p.  172,  n.  2). 

Infantry  comes,  through  French,  from  Italian.  It 
means  a  collection  of  "infants"  or  juniors,  so  called  by 
contrast  with  the  proved  veterans  who  composed  the 
cavalry. 

The  pastern  of  a  horse,  defined  by  Dr  Johnson  as 
the  knee,  from  "ignorance,  madam,  pure  ignorance," 
still  means  in  Cotgrave  and  Florio  "  shackle."  Florio 
even  recognises  a  verb  to  pastern^  e.g.,  pastoiare,  "to 
fetter,  to  clog,  to  shackle,  to  pastern,  to  give  i^zy^^'^ 
It  comes  from  Old  Fr.  pasturon  {paturon),  a  derivative 
of  pasture,  such  shackles  being  used  to  prevent  grazing 
horses  from  straying.  Pester  (p.  167)  is  connected  with 
it.  The  modern  Fr.  paturon  has  changed  its  meaning 
in  the  same  way. 

To  rummage  means  in  the  Elizabethan  navigators 
to  stow  goods  in  a  hold.  A  rummager  was  what  we 
call  a  stevedore}  Rummage  is  Old  Fr.  arrumage 
{arrimage),  from  arrumer,  to  stow,  the  middle  syllable 
of  which  is  probably  cognate  with  English  room;  cf. 
arranger,  to  put  in  "  rank." 

The  Christmas  waits  were  originally  watchmen, 
Anglo-Fr.  waite,  Old  Fr.  gaite,  from  the  Old  High 
German  form  of  modern  Ger.  Wacht,  watch.  Modern 
French  still  has  the  verb  guetter,  to  lie  in  wait  for,  and 
guet^  the  watch.  Minstrel  comes  from  an  Old  French 
derivative  of  Lat.  minister,  servant.  Modern  Fr.  meni- 
trier  is  only  used  of  a  country  fiddler  who  attends  village 
weddings. 

The  lumber-room  is  supposed  to  be  for  Lombard  roomy 
i.e.,  the   room    in   which   pawnbrokers   used   to    store 

1  A  Spanish  word,  Lat.  stipaior,  "  one  that  stoppeth  chinkes  "  (Cooper). 
It  came  to  England  in  connection  with  the  wool  trade. 


LIVERY— FAIRY  V? 

pledged  property.  The  Lombards  introduced  into  this 
country  the  three  golden  balls,  the  arms  of  the  Medici 
family. 

Livery  is  correctly  explained  by  the  poet  Spenser — 

"What  livery  is,  we  by  common  use  in  England  know  well 
enough,  namely,  that  it  is  allowance  of  horse -meat,  as  they 
commonly  use  the  word  in  stabling ;  as,  to  keep  horses  at 
livery ;  the  which  word,  I  guess,  is  derived  of  livering  or 
delivering  forth  their  nightly  food.  So  in  great  houses,  the 
livery  is  said  to  be  served  up  for  all  night,  that  is,  their  evening 
allowance  for  drink  ;  and  livery  is  also  called  the  upper  weed 
(see  p.  2)  which  a  serving-man  wears ;  so  called,  as  I  suppose, 
for  that  it  was  delivered  and  taken  from  him  at  pleasure." 
( View  of  the  State  of  Ireland.) 

This  passage  explains  also  livery  stable.^  Our  word 
comes  from  Fr.  livree^  the  feminine  past  participle  of 
livrer^  from  Lat.  liberare^  to  deliver. 

Pedigree  was  in  Mid.  English  pedegrew^petigrew,  etc. 
It  represents  Old  Fr.  pie  {pied)  de  grue^  crane's  foot, 
from  the  shape  of  a  sign  used  in  showing  lines  of 
descent  in  genealogical  charts.  The  older  form  survives 
in  the  family  name  Pettigrew.  Here  it  is  a  nickname, 
like  Pettifer  (pied  de  fer),  iron-foot ;  cf.  Sheepshanks. 

Fairy  is  a  collective,  ¥r.fierie^  its  modern  use  being 
perhaps  due  to  its  occurrence  in  such  phrases  as  Faerie 
Queen ^  i.e.^  Queen  of  Fairyland.  Cf.  paynim^  used  by 
some  poets  ior  pagan,  but  really  a  doublet  oi  paganism^ 
occurring  in  paynim  host,  paynim  knight,  etc.  The 
correct  name  for  the  individual  fairy  is  fay,  Fr.  fie, 
Vulgar  Lat.  *fata,  connected  with  fatum,  fate.  This  * 
appears  in  Ital.  fata,  "a  fairie,  a  witch,  an  enchantres, 
an  elfe  "  (Florio).    The  fata  morgana,  the  mirage  some- 

*  In  "  livery  and  bait "  there  is  pleonasm.  Bait^  connected  with  bite^  is 
the  same  word  as  in  hudir-baiting  and  fishermen's  hait.  We  have  it  also, 
via  Old  French,  in  abet^  whence  the  aphetic  bet^  originally  to  tgg  on. 


78  WORDS  AND  MEANINGS 

times  seen  in  the  Strait  of  Messina,  is  attributed  to  the 
fairy  Morgana  of  Tasso,  the  Morgan  le  Fay  of  our  own 
Arthurian  legends. 

Many  people  must  have  wondered  at  some  time 
why  the  clubs  and  spades  on  cards  are  so  called.  The  I 
latter  figure,  it  is  true,  bears  some  resemblance  to  a 
spade,  but  no  giant  of  fiction  is  depicted  with  a  club 
with  a  triple  head.  The  explanation  is  that  we  have 
adopted  the  French  pattern,  carreau  (see  p.  i6i),  diamond, 
ccBur^  hed^Yt,  pique,  pike,  spear-head,  trefle^  trefoil,  clover- 
leaf,  but  have  given  to  the  two  latter  the  names  used 
in  the  Italian  and  Spanish  pattern,  which,  instead  of  the 
pike  and  trefoil,  has  the  sword  (Ital.  spadd)  and  mace 
(Ital.  bastone).  Etymologically  both  spades  are  identical, 
the  origin  being  Greco-Lat.  spatha,  the  name  of  a  number 
of  blade-shaped  objects;  cf.  the  diminutive  spatula. 

Wafer^  in  both  its  senses,  is  related  to  Ger.  Wabe^ 
honeycomb.  We  find  Anglo-Fr.  wafre  in  the  sense  of 
a  thin  cake,  perhaps  stamped  with  a  honeycomb  pattern. 
The  cognate  Fr.  gaufre  is  the  name  of  a  similar  cake, 
which  not  only  has  the  honeycomb  pattern,  but  is  also 
largely  composed  of  honey.  Hence  our  verb  to  goffer^ 
to  give  a  cellular  appearance  to  a  frill. 

The  meanings  of  adjectives  are  especially  subject 
to  change.  Quaint  now  conveys  the  idea  of  what  is 
unusual,  and,  as  early  as  the  17th  century,  we  find 
it  explained  as  "strange,  unknown."  This  is  the 
exact  opposite  of  its  original  meaning.  Old  Fr.  cointCy 
Lat.  cognitus ;  cf.  acquaint^  Old  Fr.  acointier^  to  make 
known.  It  is  possible  to  trace  roughly  the  process  by 
which  this  remarkable  volte -face  has  been  brought 
about.  The  intermediate  sense  of  trim  or  pretty  is 
common  in  Shakespeare — 

"  For  a  fine,  quaint^  graceful,  and  excellent  fashion,  yours  is 
worth  ten  on't."    {Much  Ado,  iii.  4.) 


MEANINGS  OF  ADJECTIVES  79 

We  apply  restive  to  a  horse  that  will  not  stand  still. 
It  means  properly  a  horse  that  will  not  do  anything 
else.  Fr.  retif.  Old  Fr,  restif,  from  rester^  to  remain, 
Lat.  re-stare^  has  kept  more  of  the  original  sense  of 
stubbornness.  Scot,  reest^  reisty  means  to  stand  stock- 
still— 

"  Certain  it  was  that  Shagram  reisted^  and  I  ken  Martin  thinks 
he  saw  something."    {Monastery^  Ch.  4.) 

Dry  den  even  uses  restive  in  the  sense  of  sluggish — 

"  So  James  the  drowsy  genius  wakes 
Of  Britain,  long  entranced  in  charms, 
Restive,  and  slumbering  on  its  arms." 

{Threnodia  Augusfalzs,) 

Reasty,  used  of  meat  that  has  "stood"  too  long,  is 
the  same  word,  (cf  testy,  Old  Fr.  testif,  heady),  and 
rusty  bacon  is  probably  folk-etymology  for  reasty 
bacon — 

-'  And  then  came  haltyng  Jone, 
And  brought  a  gambone 
Of  bakon  that  was  reasty. ^^ 

(Skelton,  Elynour  Rummyng.) 

Sterling  has  an  obscure  history.  It  is  from  Old  Fr. 
esterlin,  a  coin  which  etymologists  have  until  lately 
connected  with  the  Easterlings,  or  Hanse  merchants,  who 
formed  one  of  the  great  mercantile  communities  of 
the  Middle  Ages;  and  perhaps  some  such  association 
is  responsible  for  the  meaning  that  sterling  has  acquired ; 
but  chronology  shows  this  traditional  etymology  to  be 
impossible.  We  find  mius  sterlingus  in  a  medieval  Latin 
document  of  11 84,  and  the  Old  Fr.  esterlin  occurs  in 
Wace's  Roman  de  Ron  (Romaunt  of  Rollo  the  Sea 
King),  which  was  written  before  1175.  Hence  it  is 
conjectured  that  the  original  coin  may  have  been 
stamped  with  a  star  or  a  starling. 


80  WORDS  AND  MEANINGS 

When  Horatio  says — 

"  It  is  a  nipping  and  an  eager  air."    {Hamlet^  i.  4.) 

["  we  are  reminded  that  eager  is  identical  with  the  second 
part  of  \m-egar^  Fr.  aigre,  sour,  Lat.  acer,  keen.  It  seems 
hardly  possible  to  explain  the  modern  sense  oinice^  which 
in  the  course  of  its  history  has  traversed  nearly  the  whole 
diatonic  scale  between  "rotten"  and  "ripping."  In 
Mid.  English  and  Old  French  it  means  foolish. 
Cotgrave  explains  it  by  "lither,  lazie,  sloathful,  idle; 
faint,  slack  ;  dull,  simple,"  and  Shakespeare  uses  it  in  a 
great  variety  of  meanings.  It  is  supposed  to  "come 
from  Lat.  nescius,  ignorant.  The  transition  from  fond^ 
foolish,  which  survives  in  '^  fond  hopes,"  to  fond^  loving, 
is  easy.  French  fou  is  used  in  exactly  the  same  way. 
Cf.  also  to  dote  on,  i.e.^  to  be  foolish  about.  Piiny  is 
Fr.  putn^^  from  puis  ne,  later  born,  junior,  whence  the 
puisne  justices.     Milton  uses  it  of  a  minor — 

"  He  must  appear  in  print  like  2^  puny  with  his  guardian." 

{Areopagitica.) 

Petty ^  Fr.  petit,  was  similarly  used  for  a  small  boy. 

In  some  cases  a  complimentary  adjective  loses  its 
true  meaning  and  takes  on  a  contemptuous  or  ironic 
sense.  None  of  us  care  to  be  called  bland,  and  to  describe 
a  man  as  worthy  is  to  apologise  for  his  existence.  We 
may  compare  Fr.  bonhomme,  which  now  means  generally 
an  old  fool,  and  ^^;/?/d^?;2/;2^,  good-wife,  goody.  Dapper, 
the  Dutch  for  brave  {cf.  Ger.  tapfer),  and  pert,  Mid. 
Eng.  apert,  representing  in  meaning  Lat.  expertus,  have 
changed  much  since  Milton  wrote  of — 

^^Thtperi  fairies  and  the  dapper  elves."     {Comus,  1.  118.) 

Pert  seems  in  fact  to  have  acquired  the  meaning  of  its 
opposite  malapert,  though  the  older  sense  of  brisk, 
sprightly,  survives  in  dialect — 


INFLUENCE  OF  ASSOCIATION  81 

"  He  looks  spry  and  peart  for  once." 

(Phillpotts,  American  Prisoner^  Ch.  3.) 

Smug,  cognate  with  Ger.  schmuck^  trim,  elegant,  beauti- 
ful, has  its  original  sense  in  Shakespeare — 

"And  here  the  smug  and  silver  Trent  shall  run 
In  a  new  channel,  fair  and  evenly." 

(i  Henry  /F.,  iii.  I.) 

The  degeneration  of  an  adjective  is  sometimes  due 
to  its  employment  for  euphemistic  purposes.  The 
favourite  substitute  for  fat  is  stout^  properly  strong,^ 
dauntless,  etc.,  cognate  with  Ger.  stolz^  proud.  Pre- 
cisely the  same  euphemism  appears  in  French,  e.g., 
"une  dame  un  peu  forte."  Ugly  is  replaced  in  English 
by  plaifty  and  in  American  by  homely — 

"  She  is  not  so  handsome  as  these,  maybe,  but  her  homeliness 
is  not  actually  alarming."  (Max  Adeler,  Mr  Skinner's  Night  in 
the  Underworld) 

In  the  case  of  this  word,  as  in  many  others,  the 
American  use  preserves  a  meaning  which  was  once 
common  in  English.  Kersey's  Dictionary  {1^20)  explains 
homely  as  "  ugly,  disagreeable,  course  (coarse),  mean." 

Change  of  meaning  may  be  brought  about  by 
association.  A  miniature  is  a  small  portrait,  and  we 
even  use  the  word  as  an  adjective  meaning  small,  on  a 
reduced  scale.  But  the  true  sense  of  miniature  is 
something  painted  in  minium^  red  lead.  Florio  explains 
miniatura  as  "a  limning  (see  p.  63),  a  painting  with 
vermilion."  Such  paintings  were  usually  small,  hence 
the  later  nieaning.  The  word  was  first  applied  to  the 
ornamental  red  initial  capitals  in  manuscripts.  Vignette 
still  means  technically   in   French  an   interlaced  vine- 

^  Hence  the  use  of  stout  for  a  "strong"  beer.  PorUr  was  once  the 
favourite  tap  oi porters^  and  a  mixture  of  stout  and  ale,  now  known  as  cooper^ 
was  especially  relished  by  the  brewery  cooper* 

F 


^^  WORDS  AND  MEANINGS 

pattern  on  a  frontispiece.^  Cotgrave  has  vignettes 
"  vignets ;  branches,  or  branch-like  borders,  or  flourishe 
in  painting,  or  ingravery." 

The  degeneration  in  the  meaning  of  a  noun  may 
be  partly  due  to  frequent  association  with  disparag 
ing  adjectives.  Thus  hussy^  i.e.  housewife,  quean} 
woman,  wench^  child,  have  absorbed  such  adjectives  as 
impudent,  idle,  light,  saucy,  etc.  Shakespeare  uses 
quean  only  three  times,  and  these  three  includ 
"  cozening  quean  "  {Merry  Wives,  iv.  2)  and  "  scolding 
quean"  {All's  Well,  ii.  2).  With  wench,  still  usee 
without  any  disparaging  sense  by  country  folk,  we  may 
compare  Fr.  garce,  lass,  and  Ger.  Dime,  maid-servant 
both  of  which  are  now  insulting  epithets,  but,  in  th 
older  language,  could  be  applied  to  Joan  of  Arc  and  th 
Virgin  Mary  respectively.  Garce  was  replaced  by  filh 
which  has  acquired  in  its  turn  a  meaning  so  offensiv 
that  it  has  now  given  way  to  jeune  fille.  Minx,  earlier 
minkes,  is  probably  the  Low  Ger.  minsk,  Ger.  Mensch^ 
lit.  human,  but  used  also  in  the  sense  of  "wench. 
For  the  consonantal  change  cf.  hunks,  Dan.  hundsk^ 
stingy,  lit.  doggish.  These  examples  show  that  the 
indignant  "  Who  are  you  calling  a  woman  ? "  is 
philologically,  in  all  likelihood  a  case  of  intelligent 
anticipation. 

Adjectives  are  affected  in  their  turn  by  being 
regularly  coupled  with  certain  nouns.  A  buxom  help- 
mate was  once  obedient,  the  word  being  cognate  with 
Ger.  biegsam,  flexible,  yielding — 

"The  place  where  thou  and  Death 
Shall  dwell  at  ease,  and  up  and  down  unseen 
Wing  silently  the  buxom  air." 

{Paradise  Lost,  ii.  840.) 

*  Folk-etymology  iox  frontispice,  'Lzt./rontispicium,  front  view, 

*  Related  to,  but  not  identical  with,  quten. 


BUXOM— PLUCK  83 

An  obedient  nature  is  ^^  buxom,  blithe  and  debonair," 
qualities  which  affect  the  physique  and  result  in  hearti- 
ness of  aspect  and  a  comely  plumpness.  An  arck 
damsel  is  etymologically  akin  to  an  archhxsho^^  both 
descending  from  the  Greek  prefix  ci/oxf,  from  apxrj,  a 
beginning,  first  cause.    Shakespeare  uses  arch  as  a  noun — 

"  The  noble  duke  my  master, 
My  worthy  arch  and  patron  comes  to-night." 

{Lear^  ii.  i.) 

Occurring  chiefly  in  such  phrases  as  arch  enemy,  arch 
heretic,  arch  hypocrite,  arch  rogue,  it  acquired  a 
depreciatory  sense,  which  has  now  become  so  weakened 
that  archness  is  not  altogether  an  unpleasing  attribute. 
VVe  may  compare  the  cognate  German  prefix  Er2. 
Ludwig  has,  as  successive  entries,  Ertz-dieb^  "  an  arch- 
thief,  an  arrant  thief,"  and  Ertz-engel,  "  an  arch-angel." 
The  meaning  of  arrant  is  almost  entirely  due  to 
association  with  "  thief."  It  means  lit.  wandering,  vaga- 
bond, so  that  the  arrant  thief  is  nearly  related  to  the 
knight  errant,  and  to  the  Justices  in  eyre,  Old  Fr.  eire^ 
Lat.  iter,  a  way,  journey.  Fr.  errer,  to  wander,  stray,  is 
compounded  of  Vulgar  Lat.  iterare,  to  journey,  and  Lat. 
errare,  to  stray,  and  it  would  be  difficult  to  calculate  how 
much  of  each  enters  into  the  composition  of  le  Juif  errant. 
As  I  have  suggested  above,  association  accounts  to 
some  extent  for  changes  of  meaning,  but  the  process  is 
in  reality  more  complex,  and  usually  a  number  of 
factors  are  working  together  or  in  opposition  to  each 
other.  A  low  word  may  gradually  acquire  right  of 
citizenship.  "That  article  blackguardly  called  pluck'' 
(Scott)  is  now  much  respected.  It  is  the  same  word  as 
pluck,  the  heart,  liver,  and  lungs  of  an  animal — 

"During  the  Crimean  war,  plucky,  signifying  courageous, 
seemed  likely  to  become  a  favourite  term  in  Mayfair,  even  among 
the  ladies."    (Hotten'S  Slang  Dictionary^  1864.)  ^ 


84  WORDS  AND  MEANINGS 

Having  become  respectable,  it  is  now  replaced 
sporting  circles  by  the  more  emphatic  guts^  which 
reproduces  the  original  metaphor.  A  word  may  die 
out  in  its  general  sense,  surviving  only  in  some  special 
meaning.  Thus  the  poetic  swardy  scarcely  used  except 
with  "green,"  meant  originally  the  skin  or  crust  of 
anything.  It  is  cognate  with  Ger.  Schwarte^  "  the 
sward,  or  rind,  of  a  thing  "  (Ludwig),  which  now  means 
especially  bacon-rind.  Related  words  may  meet  with 
very  different  fates  in  kindred  languages.  Eng.  knight 
is  cognate  with  Ger.  Knecht,  servant,  which  had,  in 
Mid.  High  German,  a  wide  range  of  meanings, 
including  "warrior,  hero."  There  is  no  more  compli- 
mentary epithet  than  knightly,  while  Ger.  knechtisch 
means  servile.  The  degeneration  of  words  like  boor} 
churl,  farmer,  is  a  familiar  phenomenon  (cf.  villain^ 
p.  1 50).  The  same  thing  has  h^pened  to  blackguard, 
the  modern  meaning  of  which  bears  hardly  on  a  humble 
but  useful  class.  The  name  black  guard  was  given 
collectively  to  the  kitchen  detachment  of  a  great" 
man's  retinue.  The  scavenger  has  also  come  down  in 
the  world,  rather  an  unusual  phenomenon  in  the  case 
of  official  titles.  The  medieval  scavager^  was  an 
important  official  who  seems  to  have  been  originally  a 
kind  of  inspector  of  customs.  He  was  called  in  Anglo- 
French  scawageour,  from  the  noun  scawage,  showing. 
The  Old  French  dialect  verb  escauwer  is  of  Germanic 
origin  and  cognate  with  Eng.  show  and  Ger.  schauen,  to 
look.  The  cheater,  now  usually  cheat,  probably  deserved 
his  fate.  The  escheators  looked  after  escheats,  i.e.,  estates 
or  property  that  lapsed  and  were  forfeited.     The  origin  of 

^  The  older  meaning  of  boor  survives  in  the  compound  neighbour,  i.e. 
nigh  boor,  the  farmer  near  at  hand.     Du.  boer  is  of  course  the  same  word. 

2  English  regularly  inserts  n  in  words  thus  formed ;  of.  h(^rb.ingiir^ 
messenger,  passenger,  potiinger,  etc* 


CHEAT— BELCHER  85 

the  word  is  Old  Fr.  escheoir  (Jchoir),  to  fall  due,  Vulgar 
Lat.  ex  *cadere  for  cad^re.  Their  reputation  was 
unsavoury,  and  cheat  has  already  its  present  meaning  in 
Shakespeare.     He  also  plays  on  the  double  meaning — 

"  I  will  be  cheater  to  them  both,  and  they  shall  be  exchequers 
to  me."    {Merry  Wives,  i.  3.) 

Beldam  implies  "hag"  as  early  as  Shakespeare,  but 
he  also  uses  it  in  its  proper  sense  of  "grandmother," 
e.g.y  Hotspur  refers  to  "old  beldam  earth"  and  "our 
grandam  earth"  in  the  same  speech  (i  Henry  IV.,  iii.  i), 
and  Milton  speaks  of  "  beldam  nature  " — 

"  Then  sing  of  secret  things  that  came  to  pass 
When  Beldam  Nature  in  her  cradle  was." 

( Vacation  Exercise,  1.  46.) 

It  is  of  course  from  belle-dame,  used  in  Mid.  English  for 
grandmother,  as  belsire  was  for  grandfather.  Hence 
it  is  a  doublet  of  belladonna.  The  masculine  belsire 
survives  as  a  family  name,  Belcher'^ ;  and  to  Jim  Belcher, 
most  gentlemanly  of  prize-fighters,  we  owe  the  belcher 
handkerchief,  which  had  large  white  spots  with  a 
dark  blue  dot  in  the  centre  of  each  on  a  medium 
blue  ground.  It  was  also  known  to  the  "  fancy "  as  a 
"bird's-eye  wipe." 

1  Other  forms  of  the  same  name  are  Bowser  and  Bewsher.  The  form 
Belcher  is  Picard — 

"  On  assomma  la  pauvre  b^te. 
Un  manant  lui  coupa  le  pied  droit  et  la  tite. 
Le  seigneur  du  village  a  sa  porte  les  mit ; 
Et  ce  dicton  picard  k  I'entour  fut  ^crit : 
'  Biaux  chires  leups,  n'ecoutez  mie 
Mfere  tenchent  (grondant)  chen  fieux  (son  fils)  qui  crie.'" 
(La  Fontaine,  Fables^  iv.  16.) 


F  2 


CHAPTER  Vir 

SEMANTICS 

The  convenient  name  semantics  has  been  applied  o: 
late  to  the  science  of  meanings,  as  distinguished  from 
phonetics,  the  science  of  sound.  The  comparative 
study  of  languages  enables  us  to  observe  and  codify 
the  general  laws  which  govern  sense  development,  and 
to  understand  why  meanings  become  extended  or 
restricted.  One  phenomenon  which  seems  to  occur 
normally  in  language  results  from  what  we  may  cal 
the  simplicity  of  the  olden  times.  Thus  the  whole 
vocabulary  which  is  etymologically  related  towri'tmgand 
books  has  developed  from  an  old  Germanic  verb  that 
means  to  scratch  and  the  Germanic  name  for  the  beech. 
Our  earliest  books  were  wooden  tablets  on  which 
inscriptions  were  scratched.  The  word  book  itself 
comes  from  Anglo-Sax.  bdc^  beech;  cf,  Ger.  Buchstabe^ 
letter,  lit.  beech-stave.  Lat.  liber ^  book,  whence  a  large 
family  of  words  in  the  Romance  languages,  means  the 
inner  bark  of  a  tree,  and  bible  is  ultimately  from  Greek 
Pu^\o9,  the  inner  rind  of  the  papyrus^  the  Egyptian 
rush  from  which  paper  was  made.^ 

The  earliest  measurements  were  calculated  from  the 
human  body.     All  European  languages  use  the/^d?/,  and 

1  Parchment  (see  p.  49)  was  invented  as  a  substitute  when  the  supply  of 
papyrus  failed. 
80 


FINANCIAL  TERMS  87 

we  still  measure  horses  by  handSy  while  span  survives  in 
table-books.  Cubit  is  Latin  for  elbow^  the  first  part  of 
which  is  the  same  as  ell^  cognate  with  Lat.  ulna^  also 
used  in  both  senses.  Fr.  brasse^  fathom,  is  Lat.  brachial 
the  two  arms,  and  pouce,  thumb,  means  inch.  A  further 
set  of  measures  are  represented  by  simple  devices: 
a.j/ard'^  is  a  small  "stick,"  and  the  rod^pole^  or  perch  (cf. 
perch  for  birds,  Fr.  perche^  pole)  which  gives  charm  to 
our  arithmetic  is  a  larger  one.  A  furlong  is  a  furrow- 
long.  For  weights  common  objects  were  used,  e.g.^  a 
grainy  or  a  scruple^  Lat.  scrupuluSy  "  a  little  sharpe  stone 
falling  sometime  into  a  man's  shooe  "  (Cooper),  for  very 
small  things,  a  stone  for  heavier  goods.  Gk.  SpaxfJ-d, 
whence  our  dram^  means  a  handful.  Our  decimal 
system  is  due  to  our  possession  of  ten  digits^  or 
fingers,  and  calculation  comes  from  Lat  calculus^  a 
pebble. 

A  modern  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  considering 
his  budget,  is  not  so  near  the  reality  of  things  as  his 
medieval  predecessor,  who  literally  sat  in  his  counting- 
house,  counting  up  his  money.  For  the  exchequer^ 
named  from  the  Old  Fr.  eschequier  {^chiquier), chess-hodirdf 
was  once  the  board  marked  out  in  squares  on  which  the 
treasurer  piled  up  the  king's  taxes  in  hard  cash.  This 
Old  Fr.  eschequier,  which  has  also  given  chequer,  is  a 
derivative  of  Old  Fr.  eschec  {ichec),  check.  Thus  "  check 
trousers"  and  a  ^^ chequered  career"  are  both  directly 
related  to  an  eastern  potentate  (see  chess,  p.  1 20).     The 

1  The  "  stick  "  meaning  survives  in  \\xq.  yards  of  a  ship.  Yard  was  once 
the  general  word  for  rod,  wand.  Thus  the  "cheating  yardwand"  of 
Tennyson's  "smooth-faced  snubnosed  rogue"  (^Maud,  I.  i.  i6)  is  a 
pleonasm  of  the  same  type  as  greyhound  (p.  135).  Yard,  an  enclosure,  is 
a  separate  word,  related  to  garden.  The  doublet  garth,  used  in  the  Eastern 
counties,  is  of  Scandinavian  origin — 

*'  I  climb'd  to  the  top  of  the  garlh^  and  stood  by  the  road  at  the  gate.'* 

(Tennyson,  The  Grandmother,  1.  38.) 


88  SEMANTICS 

chancellor  himself  was  originally  a  kind  of  door-keeper 
in  charge  of  a  chancel,  a  latticed  barrier  which  we  now 
know  in  church  architecture  only.  Chancel  is  derived, 
through  Fr.  chancel  or  cancel,  from  Lat.  cancellus, 
cross-bar,  occurring  more  usually  in  the  plural  in  the 
sense  of  lattice,  grating.  We  still  cancel  a  document  by 
drawing  such  a  pattern  on  it.  In  German  cancellus  has 
given  Kanzel,  pulpit  The  budget^  now  a  document  in 
which  millions  are  mere  items,  was  the  chancellor's 
little  bag  or  purse — 

**  If  tinkers  may  have  leave  to  live, 
And  bear  the  sow-skin  budget. 
Then  my  account  I  well  may  give, 
And  in  the  stocks  avouch  it." 

{Winter's  Tale,  \y.  2.) 

Fr.  hougette,  from  which  it  is  borrowed,  is  a  diminutive 
of  bouge,  a  leathern  bag,  which  comes  from  Lat.  bulga, 
"a  male  or  bouget  of  leather;  a  purse;  a  bagge". 
(Cooper).  Modern  French  has  borrowed  back  our 
budget,  together  with  several  other  words  dealing  with 
business  and  finance. 

Among  the  most  important  servants  of  the 
exchequer  were  the  controllers.  We  now  call  them 
officially  comptroller,  through  a  mistaken  association 
with  Fr.  compte,  account.  The  controller  had  charge  of 
the  counter-rolls  (cf.  cou7iterfoit),  from  Old  Fr.  contre-rolle^ 
"  the  copy  of  a  role  (of  accounts,  etc.),  a  paralell  of  the 
same  quality  and  content,  with  the  originall "  (Cotgrave). 
In  French  controle  has  preserved  the  sense  of  supervision 
or  Verification  which  it  has  lost  in  ordinary  English. 

A  very  ancient  functionary  of  the  exchequer,  the 
tally-cutter,  was  abolished  in  the  reign  of  George  III. 
Tallies  (Fr.  tailler,  to  cut)  were  sticks  "  scored  "  across 
in  such  a  way  that  the  notches  could  be  compared  for 


OFFICIAL  TITLES  89 

purposes  of  verification.  Jack  Cade  preferred  those 
good  old  ways — 

"Our  fore-fathers  had  no  other  books  but  the  score  and  the 
tally  ;  thou  hast  caused  books  to  be  used." 

(2  Henry  VL,  iv.  7.) 

This  rudimentary  method  of  calculation  was  still  in  use 
in  the  Kentish  hop-fields  within  fairly  recent  times ;  and 
some  of  us  can  remember  very  old  gentlemen  asking  us, 
after  a  cricket  match,  how  many  "notches"  we  had 
"  scored  " — 

"  The  scorers  were  prepared  to  notch  the  runs." 

{Pickwick^  Ch.  7.) 

This  use  oi score ^  for  a  reckoning  in  general,  or  for  twenty, 
occurs  in  Anglo-Saxon,  but  the  word  is  Scandinavian. 
The  words  score  and  tally^  originally  of  identical 
meaning,  were  soon  differentiated,  a  common  pheno- 
menon in  such  cases.  For  the  exchequer  tally  was 
substituted  an  "  indented  cheque  receipt."  An  indenture^ 
chiefly  familiar  to  us  in  connection  with  apprentice- 
ship, was  a  duplicate  document  of  which  the  "  indented  " 
or  toothed  edges  had  to  correspond  like  the  notches 
of  the  score  or  tally.  Cheque^  earlier  cheeky  is 
identical  with  cheeky  rebuff.  The  metaphor  is  from  the 
game  of  chess  (see  p.  120),  to  check  a  man's  accounts 
involving  a  sort  of  control,  or  pulling  up  short,  if 
necessary.  A  cheque  is  a  method  of  payment  which 
makes  "  checking "  easy.  The  modern  spelling  is  due 
to  popular  association  with  exchequer^  which  is  etymo- 
logically  right,  though  the  words  have  reached  their 
modern  functions  by  very  different  paths. 

The  development  of  the  meaning  of  chancellor  can 
be  paralleled  in  the  case  of  many  other  functionaries, 
once  humble  but  now  important.  The  titles  of  two  great 
medieval  officers,  the  constable  and  the  marshal^  mean 


90  SEMANTICS 

the  same  thing.  Constable,  Old  Fr.  coitestable  {connitable)^ 
is  Lat.  comes  stabuli,  stable  fellow.  Marshal,  the  first 
element  of  which  is  cognate  with  mare,  while  the  second 
corresponds  to  modern  Ger.  Schalk,  rascal,  expresses  the 
same  idea  in  German.  Both  constable  and  marshal  are 
now  used  of  very  high  positions,  but  Policeman  X.  and 
the  farrier-marshal,  or  shoeing-smith,  of  a  troop  of 
cavalry,  remind  them  of  the  base  degrees  by  which  they 
did  ascend.  The  Marshalsea  where  Little  Dorrit  lived 
is  for  marshals^,  marshals*  office,  etc  The  steward^  or 
sty-ward,  looked  after  his  master's  pigs.  He  rose  in 
importance  until,  by  the  marriage  of  Marjorie  Bruce  to 
Walter  the  Stewart  of  Scotland,  he  founded  the  most 
picturesque  of  royal  houses.  The  chamberlain,  as  his 
name  suggests,  attended  to  the  royal  comforts  long 
before  he  became  a  judge  of  wholesome  literature. 

All  these  names  now  stand  for  a  great  number  of 
functions  of  varying  importance.  Other  titles  which 
are  equally  vague  are  sergeant  (see  p.  148)  and  usher. 
Old  Fr.  uissier  ^  {huissier),  lit.  door-keeper,  Lat.  ostiarius, 
a  porter.  Another  official  was  the  harbinger,  who 
survives  only  in  poetry.  He  was  a  forerunner,  or 
vauntcourier,  who  preceded  the  great  man  to  secure 
him  "  harbourage "  for  the  night,  and  his  name  comes 
from  Old  Fr.  herberger  (h^berger),  to  shelter  (see  p.  164). 
As  late  as  the  reign  of  Charles  H.  we  read  that — 

"On  the  removal  of  the  court  to  pass  the  summer  at  Win- 
chester, Bishop  Ken's  house,  which  he  held  in  the  right  of  his 
prebend,  was  marked  by  the  harbinger  for  the  use  of  Mrs  Eleanor 
Gwyn  ;  but  he  refused  to  grant  her  admittance,  and  she  was  forced- 
to  seek  for  lodgings  in  another  place." 

(Hawkins,  Life  of  Bishop  Ken) 

*  As  Old  Fr,  uissier  has  given  usher^  I  would  suggest  that  the  family 
names  Lush  and  Lusher^  which  Bardsley  (J)ict.  of  English  Surnames^  gives 
up,  are  for  Old  Fr.  Ttiis  (cf  Laporie)  and  Puissier,  In  modem  French 
Lhuissier  is  not  an  uncommon  name. 


PARALLEL  METAPHORS  91 

One  of  the  most  interesting  branches  of  semantics, 
and  the  most  useful  to  the  etymologist,  deals  with  the 
study  of  parallel  metaphors  in  different  languages.  We 
have  seen  (p.  29)  how,  for  instance,  the  names  of  flowers 
show  that  the  same  likeness  has  been  observed  by 
various  races.  The  spice  called  clove  and  the  dove-pink 
both  belong  to  Lat.  clavus,  a  nail.  The  German  for 
pink  is  Ne/ke,  a  Low  German  diminutive,  nail-kin^  of 
Nagely  nail.  The  spice,  or  Gewiirznelke^  is  called  in 
South  Germany  Ndgele^  little  nail.  A  clove  of  garlic  is 
quite  a  separate  word ;  but,  as  it  has  some  interesting 
cognates,  it  may  be  mentioned  here.  It  is  so  called 
because  the  bulb  cleaves  naturally  into  segments.^  The 
German  name  is  Knoblauch^  for  Mid.  High  Ger.  klohe- 
louch^  clove-leek,  by  dissimilation  of  one  /.  The  Dutch 
doublet  is  kloofs  a  chasm,  gully,  familiar  in  South  Africa. 

Yx.  poison^  Lat.  potto,  potion-^  a  drink,  and  Ger.  Gifty 
poison,  lit.  gift,  seem  to  date  from  treacherous  times. 
On  the  other  hand,  Ger.  Geschenk,  a  present,  means 
something  poured  out  (see  nuncheon,  p.  124),  while  a  tip 
is  in  French /^2/r^^2r^  and  in  German  Trinkgeld^Qv^n 
when  accepted  by  a  lifelong  abstainer.  In  English  we 
"ride  a  hobby"  i.e.,  a  hobby-horse,  or  wooden  horse. 
German  has  the  same  metaphor,  "ein  Steckenpferd 
reiten,"  and  French  say  "enfourcher  un  dada"  ie.^  to 
bestride  a  g&Q-g&Q.  Hobby,  for  Mid.  Eng.  hobin,  a  nag, 
was  a  proper  name  for  a  horse.  Like  Dobbin  and  Robin^ 
it  belongs  to  the  numerous  progeny  of  Robert. 

In  some  cases  the  reason  for  a  metaphor  is  not  quite 
clear  to  the  modern  mind.  The  bloodthirsty  weasel  is 
called     in    French    belette}    little    beauty,    in    Italian 

^  The  oniov^  Fr.  oignon^  Lat,  unioy  union-,  is  so  named  because  successive 
skins  form  an  harmonious  one-ness.     It  is  a  doublet  of  union. 

-  Perhaps  a  diminutive  of  Cymric  bele,  marten,  but  felt  as  from  Fr. 

belle. 


92  SEMANTICS 

donnola^  in  Portuguese  doninha^  little  lady,  in  Spanish 
comadreja,  gossip  (Fr.  commere^  Scot,  cummer,  p.  94),  ii 
Bavarian  Schontierlein,  beautiful  little  animal,  in  Danish 
kjonne,  beautiful,  and  in  older  English  fairy}  From 
Lat.  medius  we  get  mediastinus,  "  a  drugge  (drudge)  of 
lubber  to  doe  all  vile  service  in  the  house ;  a  kitching 
slave  "  (Cooper).  Why  this  drudge  should  have  a  namd 
implying  a  middle  position  I  cannot  say  ;  but  to-day  ini 
the  North  of  England  a  maid-of-all-work  is  called 
.tweeny  (between  maid). 

A  stock  semantic  parallel  occurs  in  the  relation 
between  age  and  respectability.  All  of  us,  as  soon  as 
we  get  to  reasonable  maturity,  lay  great  stress  on  the 
importance  of  deference  to  "  elders."  It  follows' 
naturally  that  many  titles  of  more  or  less  dignity 
should  be  evolved  from  this  idea  of  seniority.  The 
Eng.  alderman  is  obvious.  Priest^  Old  Fr.  prestre^ 
(prHre\  from  Gk.  irpea-^vTepo'Si  comparative  of  irpea-^v^y 
old,  is  not  so  obvious.  In  the  Romance  languages  we 
have  a  whole  group  of  words,  e.g.,  Fr.  sire,  sieur,  seigneur, 
Ital.  signor.  Span,  sefior,  with  their  compounds  monsieur, 
messer,  etc.  all  representing  either  senior  or  seniore7n. 
Ger.  Eltern,  parents,  is  the  plural  comparative  of  alt, 
old,  and  the  first  element  of  seneschal  (see  marshal, 
p.  90)  is  cognate  with  Lat.  senex.  From  Fr.  sire  comes 
Eng.  sir,  and  from  this  was  formed  the  adjective  sirly^ 
now  spelt  surly,  which  in  Shakespeare  still  means 
haughty,  arrogant — 

"  See  how  the  surly  Warwick  mans  the  wall." 

(3  Henry  VL,  v.  i.) 

^  Dozens  of  similar  names  for  the  weasel  could  be  collected  from  the 
European  languages  and  dialects.  It  is  probable  that  these  complimentary 
names  were  propitiatory,  the  weasel  being  an  animal  regarded  with 
superstitious  dread. 

^  Cf.  Pr ester  John,  the  fabulous  priest  monarch  of  Ethiopia.  * 

'  Cf,  lordly,  princely,  etc,  and  Ger,  herrisch,  imperious,  from  Herr,  sir. 


;  LIST— MATELOT  93 

A  list,  in  the  sense  of  enumeration,  is  a  "  strip." 
The  cognate  German  word  is  Leiste,  border.  We  have 
the  original  meaning  in  "  list  sh'ppers."  Fr.  bordei^eau^ 
a  list,  which  became  very  familiar  in  connection  with 
the  Dreyfus  case,  is  a  diminutive  of  bord,  edge.  Label 
is  the  same  word  as  Old  Fr.  lambel  {lambeau),  rag. 
Scroll  is  a  diminutive  of  Old  Fr.  escrou}  rag,  of  German 
origin,  and  cognate  with  shred  and  screed.  Docket, 
earlier  dogget,  is  from  an  old  Italian  diminutive  oi  doga, 
cask-stave,  which  meant  a  bendlet  in  heraldry.  Schedule 
is  a  diminutive  of  Lat.  scheda,  "  a  scrowe  "  (Cooper), 
properly  a  strip  of  papyrus.  Ger.  Zettel,  bill,  ticket,  is 
the  same  word.  Thus  all  these  words,  more  or  less 
kindred  in  meaning,  can  be  reduced  to  the  primitive 
notion  of  strip  or  scrap. 

Farce,  from  French,  means  stuffing.  The  verb  to 
farce,  which  represents  Lat.  farci7'e,  survives  in  the  per- 
verted force -m^dX.  A  parallel  is  satire,  from  Lat. 
satura  (Janx),  a  full  dish,  hence  a  medley.  Somewhat 
similar  is  the  modern  meaning  of  magaziney  a  "store- 
house "  of  amusement  or  information. 

The  closest  form  of  intimacy  is  represented  by 
community  of  board  and  lodging,  or,  in  older  phrase- 
ology, "bed  and  board."  Companion,  with  its  related 
words,  belongs  to  Vulgar  Lat.  *companio,  companion-, 
bread-sharer.  The  same  idea  is  represented  by  the 
pleonastic  Eng.  messmate,  the  second  part  of  which, 
mate,  is  related  to  meat.  Mess,  food.  Old  Fr.  mes  (mets), 
Lat.  missum,  is  in  modern  English  only  military  or 
naval,  but  was  once  the  usual  name  for  a  dish  of  food — 

"  Herbs  and  other  country  messes 
Which  the  neat-handed  Phillis  dresses." 

{Allegro,  1.  85.) 

Another   related   word   is   Fr.  matelot,  earlier  matenot^ 

*  Modern  Fr.  ecrou  is  used  only  in  the  sense  of  prison  register. 


94  SEMANTICS 

representing  Du.  7naat^  meat,  and  genoot,  a  companion. 
The  latter  word  is  cognate  with  Ger.  Genosse^ 
companion,  from  geniessen,  to  enjoy  or  use  together. 
In  early  Dutch  we  find  also  mattegenoet^  through 
popular  association  with  matte,  hammock,  one  hammock 
serving,  by  a  Box  and  Cox  arrangement,  for  two  sailors. 

Comrade  is  from  Fr.  camarade,  and  this  from  Span. 
camarada,  originally  a  "  room-full,"  called  in  the  French 
army  une  chambrSe.  This  corresponds  to  Ger.  Geselky 
comrade,  from  Saal,  room.  The  reduction  of  the  col- 
lective to  the  individual  is  paralleled  by  Ger.  Burschey 
fellow,  from  Mid.  High  Ger.  burse,  college  hostel ;  cf; 
Frauenzimmer,  wench,  lit.  women's  room.  It  can  hardly 
be  doubted  that  chum  is  a  corrupted  clip  from  chamber- 
fellow}  It  is  thus  explained  in  a  Dictionary  of  thi 
Canting  Crew  (1690),  within  a  few  years  of  its  earliest: 
recorded  occurrence,  and  the  reader  will  remember  Mr 
Pickwick's  introduction  to  the  chummage  system  in  the 
Fleet  (Ch.  42). 

English  gossip,  earlier  god-sib,  related  in  God, 
sponsor,  soon  developed  the  subsidiary  meanings  of 
boon  companion,  crony,  tippler,  babbler,  etc.,  all  of 
which  are  represented  in  Shakespeare.  The  case  of 
Fr.  compere  and  commere,  godfather  and  godmother,  is 

1  The  vowel  is  not  so  great  a  difficulty  as  it  might  appear,  and  we 
actually  have  the  same  change  in  comrade  itself,  formerly  pronounced 
cumrade.  In  the  London  pronunciation  the  u  of  such  words  as  but^  cup, 
hurry,  etc.,  represents  roughly  a  continental  short  a.  This  fact,  familiar 
to  phoneticians  but  disbelieved  by  others,  is  one  of  the  first  peculiarities 
noted  by  foreigners  beginning  to  learn  English.  It  is  quite  possible 
that  chum  is  an  accidental  spelling  for  *cham^  just  as  we  write  bungalow 
for  bangla  (Bengal),  pundit  for  pandit^  and  Punjaub  for  Punjab,  five  rivers, 
whence  also  probably  the  liquid  called  punch,  from  its  five  ingredients. 
Cf.  also  American  to  slug,  i.e.  to  slog,  which  appears  to  represent  Du. 
slag,  blow — "That  was  for  slugging  the  guard"  (Kipling,  An  Error  in 
the  Fourth  Dimension') — and  the  adjective  bluff,  from  obsolete  Du.  blaf, 
broad-faced. 


CUMMER— GREENHORN  95 

similar.  Cotgrave  explains  commerage  as  "gossiping; 
the  acquaintance,  affinity,  or  league  that  growes 
betweene  women  by  christning  a  child  together,  or 
one  for  another."  Ger.  Gevatter,  godfather,  has  also 
acquired  the  sense  of  Fr.  bonhonime  (p.  80),  Eng.  daddy. 
From  coinmere  comes  Scot,  cummer  or  kimmer — 

"  A  canty  quean  was  Kate,  and  a  special  cummer  of  my  ain." 

{Monastery^  Ch.  8.) 

While  christenings  led  to  cheerful  garrulity,  the  wilder 
fun  of  weddings  has  given  the  Fr.  faire  la  noce,  to  go  on 
the  spree.  In  Ger.  H'ochzeit,  wedding,  lit.  high  time, 
we  have  a  converse  development  of  meaning. 

Parallel  sense  development  in  different  languages 
sometimes  gives  us  a  glimpse  of  the  life  of  our 
ancestors.  Our  verb  to  curry  (leather)  comes  from 
Old  Fr.  correer^  {courroyer),  to  make  ready,  put  in 
order,  which  represents  a  theoretical  ^con-red-are^  the 
root  syllable  of  which  is  Germanic  and  cognate  with 
our  ready.  Ger.  gerben,  to  tan,  Old  High  Ger.  garawen^ 
to  make  ready,  is  a  derivative  of  gar,  ready,  complete, 
now  used  only  as  an  adverb  meaning  "quite,"  but 
cognate  with  our  yare — 

"  Our  ship — 
Which,  but  three  glasses  since,  we  gave  out  split — 
Is  tight,  and^^r^,  and  bravely  rigg'd.*' 

{Tempest^  v.  i.) 

Both  curry  and  gerben  must  have  acquired  their  restricted 
meaning  at  a  time  when  there  was  literally  nothing  like 
leather. 

Even  in  slang  we  find  the  same  parallelism  exempli- 
fied. We  call  an  old-fashioned  watch  a  turnip.  In 
German  it  is  called  Zwiebel,  onion,  and  in  French  oignon. 
Eng.  greenhorn  likens  an  inexperienced  person  to  an 

*  Array,  Old  Fr.  arreer,  is  related. 


96  SEMANTICS 

animal  whose  horns  have  just  begun  to  sprout.  In  Gei 
Gelbschnabely  yellow-bill,  and  Fr.  bec-Jaune^  we  hav< 
the  metaphor  of  the  fledgling.  Ludwig  explain! 
Gelbschnabel  by  "  chitty-face,"  chit^  cognate  with  /^//-ten 
being  a  general  term  in  Mid.  English  for  a  young 
animal.  From  bec-jaune  we  have  Scot,  beejmn^  freshmai 
at  the  university.  Cotgrave  spells  the  French  wore 
bejaune^  and  gives,  as  he  usually  does  for  such  words, 
a  very  full  gloss,  which  happens,  by  exception,  to  b< 
quotable — 

"A  novice  ;  a  late  prentice  to,  or  young  beginner  in,  a  trade 
or  art ;  also,  a  simple,  ignorant,  unexperienced,  asse ;  a  rude 
unfashioned,  home-bred  hoydon  ;  a  sot,  ninny,  doult,  noddy  ;  on< 
that's  blankt,  and  hath  nought  to  say,  when  he  hath  most  nee( 
to  speake." 

The  Englishman  intimates  that  a  thing  has  ceasec 
to  please  by  saying  that  he  is  "  fed  up  "  with  it.  Th( 
Frenchman  says,  "J'en  ai  soup6."  Both  these  meta 
phors  are  quite  modern,  but  they  express  in  flippan 
form  the  same  figure  of  physical  satiety  which  is  as  old  a 
language.  Padding  is  a  comparatively  new  word  in  con 
nection  with  literary  composition,  but  it  reproduces 
with  a  slightly  different  meaning,  the  figure  expressed  b] 
bombast,  lit.  wadding,  a  derivative  of  Greco-Lat.  bombyA 
originally  "silk-worm,"  whence  also  bombasine.  W( 
may  compare  also  ^^ fustian  eloquence  " — 

"And  he,  vfhost  fustian^ s  so  sublimely  bad, 
It  is  not  poetry,  but  prose  run  mad." 

(Pope,  Prologue  to  the  Satires,  1.  187.) 

'  This  is  a  characteristic  of  the  old  dictionary  makers.     The  gem  of  mi 
collection  is  Ludwig's  gloss  for  Lummel,  *'  a  long  lubber,  a  lazy  lubber, 
slouch,  a  lordant,  a  lordane,  a  looby,  a  booby,  a  tony,  a  fop,  a  dunce, 
simpleton,  a  wise-acre,  a  sot,  a  logger-head,  a  block-head,  a  nickampoop, 
lingerer,  a  drowsy  or  dreaming  lusk,  a  pill-garlick,  a  slow  back,  a  lathback,i 
pitiful  sneaking  fellow,  a  lungis,  a  tall  slim  fellow,  a  slim  longback,  a  grea 
he-fellow,  a  lubberly  fellow,  a  lozel,  an  awkward  fellow." 


NAUTICAL  METAPHOR  97 

And  a  very  similar  image  is  found  in  the  Latin  poet 
Ausonius — 

"  At  nos  illepidum,  rudem  libellum, 
BurraSy  quisquilias  ineptiasque 
Credemus  gremio  cui  fovendum?" 

{Drepamo  Filto.) 

Even  to  "  take  the  cake  "  is  paralleled  by  the  Gk.  Xa^civ 
rov  TTvpajULovvra,  to  be  awarded  the  cake  of  roasted 
wheat  and  honey  which  was  originally  the  prize  of  him 
who  best  kept  awake  during  a  night-watch. 

In  the  proverbial  expressions  which  contain  the  con- 
centrated wisdom  of  the  ages  we  sometimes  find  exact 
correspondences.  Thus  "to  look  a  gift-horse  in  the 
mouth "  is  literally  reproduced  in  French  and  German. 
Sometimes  the  symbols  vary,  e.g:,  the  risk  one  is  exposed 
to  in  acquiring  goods  without  examination  is  called  by 
us  "  buying  a  pig  in  a  poke."  ^  French  and  German 
substitute  the  cat.  We  say  that  "a  cat  may  look  at 
a  king."  The  French  dramatis  personcB  are  a  dog  and 
a  bishop.  The  "  bird  in  hand  "  which  we  regard  as  the 
equivalent  of  two  in  the  bush  is  in  German  compared 
advantageously  with  ten  on  the  roof. 

Every  language  has  an  immense  number  of  metaphors 
to  describe  the  various  stages  of  intoxication.  We,  as  a 
seafaring  nation,  have  naturally  a  set  of  such  metaphors 
taken  from  nautical  English.  In  French  and  German 
the  state  of  being  "  half-seas  over "  or  "  three  sheets  in 
the  wind,"  and  the  practice  of  "  splicing  the  main-brace  " 
are  expressed  by  various  land  metaphors.  But  the 
more  obvious  nautical  figures  are  common  property. 
We  speak  of  being  stranded ;  French  says  "  ^chouer  (to 
run  ashore)  dans  une  entreprise,"  and  German  uses 
scheiterUy  to  strand,  split  on  a  rock,  in  the  same  way. 

>  Poke^  sack,  is  still  common  in  dialect,  e.g.  in  the  Kentish  hop-fields. 
It  is  a  doublet  oi pouchy  and  its  diminutive  '\z  pocket, 

G 


98  SEMANTICS 


5m/j 


Finally,  we  observe  the  same  principle  in  euphemism 
or  that  form  of  speech  which  avoids  calling  things  by 
their  names.  Euphemism  is  the  result  of  various  human 
instincts  which  range  from  religious  reverence  down 
to  common  decency.  There  is,  however,  a  special 
type  of  euphemism  which  may  be  described  as  the 
delicacy  of  the  partially  educated.  It  is  a  matter 
of  common  observation  that  for  educated  people  a 
spade  is  a  spade,  while  the  more  outspoken  class 
prefers  to  call  it  a  decorated  shovel.  Between  these 
two  classes  come  those  delicate  beings  whose  work  in 
life  is — 

"  le  retranchement  de  ces  syllabes  sales 

Qui  dans  les  plus  beaux  mots  produisent  des  scandales  ; 

Ces  jouets  etemels  des  sots  de  tous  les  temps  ; 

Ces  fades  lieux-communs  de  nos  m^chants  plaisants  ; 

Ces  sources  d'un  amas  d'equivoques  infimes, 

Dont  on  vient  faire  insulte  k  la  pudeur  des  femmes." 

(MOLi^RE,  Les  Femmes  savantes^  iii.  2.) 

In  the  United  States  refined  society  has  succeeded 
in  banning  as  improper  the  word  leg^  which  must  now 
be  replaced  by  limby  even  when  the  possessor  is  a  boiled 
fowl,  and  this  refinement  is  not  unknown  in  England. 
The  coloured  ladies  of  Barbados  appear  to  have  been 
equally  sensitive — 

"  Fate  had  placed  me  opposite  to  a  fine  turkey.  I  asked  my 
partner  if  I  should  have  the  pleasure  of  helping  her  to  a  piece  of 
the  breast.  She  looked  at  me  indignantly,  and  said,  '  Curse  your 
impudence,  sar ;  I  wonder  where  you  larn  manners.  Sar,  I  take  a 
lilly  turkey  bosom^  if  you  please.'"    {Peter  Simple^  Ch.  31.) 

This  tendency  shows  itself  especially  in  connection  with 
the  more  intimate  garments  and  articles  intended  for 
personal  use.  We  have  the  absurd  name  pocket 
handkerchiefs  i.e.^  pocket  hand-cover-head,  for  a  com*- 
paratively  modern  convenience,  the  earlier  names  of 
which  have  more  of  the  directness  of  the  Artful  Dodger's 


SEMANTIC  ETYMOLOGY  99 

"wipe."     Ben  Jonson  calls  it  a  muckinder.     In  1829  the/ 
use  of  the  word  mouchoir  in  a   French  adaptation   ofl 
Othello  caused  a  riot  at  the  Com6die  Frangaise.    History  \ 
repeats  itself,  for,  in  1907,  a  play  by  J.  M.  Synge  was  I 
produced  in  Dublin,  but — 

"  The  audience  broke  up  in  disorder  at  the  word  shift." 

{Academy^  14th  Oct.  191 1.) 

This  is  all  the  more  ludicrous  when  we  reflect  that 
shifty  i.e.  change  of  raiment,  is  itself  an  early  euphemism 
for  smock;  cf  Ital.  mutande^  "thinne  under-breeches " 
(Florio),  from  a  country  and  century  not  usually  regarded 
as  prudish.  The  fact  is  that,  just  as  the  low  word,  when 
once  accepted,  loses  its  primitive  vigour  {sQQpluck,  p.  83), 
the  euphemism  is,  by  inevitable  association,  doomed  from 
its  very  birth. 

I  will  now  give  a  few  examples  of  the  way  in  which 
the  study  of  semantics  helps  the  etymologist.  The 
antlers  of  a  deer  are  properly  the  lowest  branches  of  the 
horns,  what  we  now  call  brow-antlers.  The  word  comes 
from  Old  Fr.  antoillief^Sy  which  answers  phonetically  to 
a  conjectured  Lat.  ^ante-oculares^  from  oculuSy  eye. 
This  conjecture  is  confirmed  by  the  Ger.  Augensprosse^ 
brow-antler,  lit.  eye-sprout 

Eng.  plover^  from  Fr.  pluvier,  could  come  from  a 
Vulgar  Lat.  *phiviarius,  belonging  to  rain.  The  German 
name  Regenpfeifer.  lit.  rain-piper,  shows  this  to  be 
correct.  It  does  not  matter,  etymologically,  whether 
the  bird  really  has  any  connection  with  rain,  for  rustic 
observation,  interesting  as  it  is,  is  essentially  unscientific. 
The  honeysMokX^  is  useless  to  the  bee.  The  slow-worm^ 
a    corrupted    form    for    slay-worm^   strike-serpent,^   is 

^  The  meaning  of  worm  has  degenerated  since  the  days  of  the  Ztndwurm, 
the  dragon  slain  by  Siegfried.  The  Norse  form  survives  in  Great  OrnWs 
Head^  the  dragon's  head. 


100  SEMANTICS 

perfectly  harmless,  and  the  toad,  though  ugly,  is  not 
venomous,  nor  does  he  bear  a  jewel  in  his  head. 

Kestrel^  a  kind  of  hawk,  represents  Old  Fr.  quercerelle 
(cricerelle)^ "  a  kastrell "  (Cotgrave).  Cricerelle  is  a  diminu- 
tive of  cricelle^  a  rattle,  used  in  Old  French  especially 
of  the  leper's  rattle  or  clapper,  with  which  he  warned 
people  away  from  his  neighbourhood.  It  is  connected 
with  Lat.  crepare^  to  resound.  The  Latin  name  for  the 
kestrel  is  tinnunculus^  lit.  a  little  ringer,  derived  from  the 
verb  tinnire^  to  clink,  jingle,  "  tintinnabulate."  Cooper 
tells  us  that  "  they  use  to  set  them  (kestrels)  in  pigeon 
houses,  to  make  doves  to  love  the  place,  bicause  they 
feare  away  other  haukes  with  their  ringing  voyce." 
This  information  is  obtained  from  the  Latin  agriculturist 
Columella.  This  parallel  makes  it  clear  that  Fr.  cricerelle^ 
kestrel,  is  a  metaphorical  application  of  the  same  word, 
meaning  a  leper's  "  clicket." 

The  curious  word  akimbo  occurs  first  in  Mid.  English 
in  the  form  in  kenebowe.  In  half  a  dozen  languages  we 
find  this  attitude  expressed  by  the  figure  of  a  jug-handle, 
or,  as  it  used  to  be  called,  a  pot-ear.  The  oldest 
equivalent  is  Lat.  ansatus^  used  by  Plautus,  from  ansa^ 
\  a  jug-handle.  Ansatus  homo  is  explained  by  Cooper  as 
"  a  man  with  his  arms  on  kenbow!^  The  French  for  to 
stand  with  arms  akimbo  is  "  faire  le  pot  a  deux  ansesl' 
and  the  same  striking  image  occurs  in  German,  Dutch, 
and  Spanish.  Hence  it  seems  a  pj^ausible  conjecture 
that  kenebowe  means  "jug-handle."  This  is  confirmed 
by  the  fact  that  Dry  den  translates  ansa^  "  the  eare  or 
handle  of  a  cuppe  or  pot"  (Cooper),  by  *^  kimbo  handle" 
(Vergil,  Eel.  iii.  44).  Eng.  bow^  meaning  anything  bent, 
is  used  in  many  connections  for  handle.  The  first 
element  may  be  can^  applied  to  every  description  of 
vessel  in  earlier  English,  as  it  still  is  in  Scottish,  or 
it   may  be    some    Scandinavian    word.      In  fact    the 


DEMURE— LUGGER  101 

whole  compound  may  be  Scandinavian.  Thomas'  Latin 
Dictionary  (1644)  explains  ansatus  homo  as  "  one  that  in 
bragging  manner  strowteth  up  and  down  with  his  armes 
a-canne-bowT 

Demure  has  been  explained  as  from  Mid.  Eng.  mure^ 
ripe,  mature,  with  prefixed  de.  But  demure  is  the 
older  word  of  the  two,  and  while  the  loss  of  the 
atonic  first  syllable  is  normal  in  English  (p.  61),  it 
would  be  hard  to  find  a  case  in  which  a  meaningless 
prefix  has  been  added.  Nor  does  the  meaning  of 
demure  approximate  very  closely  to  that  of  ripe.  It 
now  has  a  suggestion  of  slyness,  but  in  Milton's  time 
meant  sedate —  7 

"  Come,  pensive  nun,  devout  and  pure. 
Sober,  stedfast,  and  demure."     {Penseroso^  1.  31.) 

and  its  oldest  meaning  is  calm,  settled,  used  of  the  sea. 
When  we  consider  that  it  is  nearly  equivalent  to  staidy 
earlier  stayed^  and  compare  the  equivalent  terms  in 
other  languages,  e.g.y  Lat.  sedatuSy  Fr.  rassisy  Ger.  gesetzt^ 
etc.,  it  seems  likely  that  it  is  formed  from  the  Old 
Norman  demurer  {demeurer)^  to  "stay,"  just  as  stale 
is  formed  from  Old  Fr.  estaler  {e'taler)^  to  display  on  a 
stally  or  trovey  in  "  treasure  trove"  from  Old  Fr  trover 
(Jrouver). 

The  origin  of  lugger  is  unknown,  but  the  word  is 
recorded  a  century  later  than  lugsaily  whence  it^ls 
probably  derived.  The  explanation  of  lugsail  as  a 
sail  that  is  lugged  seems  to  be  a  piece  of  folk-etymology. 
The  French  for  lugsail  is  voile  de  fortuney  and  a  still 
earlier  name,  which  occurs  also  in  Tudor  English,  is 
bonaventurey  i.e.y  good  luck.  Hence  it  is  not  unreason- 
able to  conjecture  that  lugsail  stands  for  *luck-sail, 
just  as  the  name  Higson  stands  for  Hickson  (see 
p.  172). 

G  2 


102  SEMANTICS 

The  pips  on  cards  or  dice  have  nothing  to  do  with 
apple  pips.  The  oldest  spelling  is  peeps}  In  the 
Germanic  languages  they  are  called  "  eyes,"  and  in  the 
Romance  languages  "  points " ;  and  the  Romance 
derivatives  of  Lat.  punctus^  point,  also  mean  ^^ peep  of 
day."  Hence  the  peeps  are  connected  with  the  verb  to 
peep. 

The  game  called  dominoes  is  French,  and  the  name 
is  taken  from  the  phrase  faire  domino^  to  win  the  game. 
Domino^  a  hooded  cloak  worn  by  priests  in  winter,  is  an 
Italian  word,  apparently  connected  with  Lat.  dominus. 
French  also  has,  in  various  games,  the  phrase  ya:^>^  capot^ 
with  a  meaning  like  that  oi  faire  domino.  Capot^  related 
to  Eng.  cap  and  Fr.  chapeau^  means  properly  a  hooded 
cloak.  The  two  metaphors  are  quite  parallel,  but  it  is 
impossible  to  say  what  was  the  original  idea.  Perhaps 
it  was  that  of  extinguishing  the  opponent  by  putting, 
as  it  were,  his  head  in  a  bag. 

The  card  game  called  gleek  is  often  mentioned  in 
Tudor  literature.  It  is  derived  from  Old  Fr.  glic^  used 
by  Rabelais,  and  the  word  is  very  common  in  the  works 
of  the  more  disreputable  French  poets  of  the  15th 
century.  According  to  French  archaeologists  the  game 
was  also  called  bonheur^  chance^  fortune,  and  hasard. 
Hence  £-/ic  represents  in  all  probability  Ger.  GlUck,  luck. 
The  Old  French  form  ghelicque  would  correspond  to 
Mid  High  Ger.  gelucke.  The  history  of  tennis  (p.  10) 
and  trump  (p.  9)  shows  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  find 
the  German  word  recorded  in  the  same  sense. 

The  word  sentry^  which  occurs  in  English  only,  has 
no  connection  at  all  with  sentinel^  the  earliest  form  of 
which  is  Ital.  sentinella,  of  unknown  origin.  The  older 
lexicographers  obscured  the  etymology  of  sentry y  which 
is  really  quite  simple,  by  always  attempting  to  treat  it 

1  Taming  of  the  Shrew,  i.  3. 


SENTRY  103 

along  with  sentinel.  It  is  a  common  phenomenon  in 
military  language  that  the  abstract  name  of  an  action 
is  applied  to  the  building  or  station  in  which  the  action 
is  performed,  then  to  the  group  of  men  thus  employed, 
and  finally  to  the  individual  soldier.  Thus  Lat.  custodia 
means  (i)  guardianship,  (2)  a  ward-room,  watch-tower, 
(3)  the  watch  collectively,  (4)  a  watchman.  Fr.  vigie^ 
the  look-out  man  on  board  ship,  can  be  traced  back  in  a 
similar  series  of  meanings  to  Lat.  vigilia^  watching.^  A 
sentry^  now  a  single  soldier,  was  formerly  a  band  of 
soldiers^ — 

"  What  strength,  what  art  can  then 
Suffice,  or  what  evasion  bear  him  safe 
Through  the  strict  senteries  and  stations  thick 
Of  angels  watching  round  ? " 

{Paradise  Lost,  ii.  410.) 

and  earlier  still  a  watch-tower,  e.g.,  Cotgrave  explains 
Old  Fr.  eschauguette  {echauguette)  as  "  a  sentrie,  watch- 
tower,  beacon."  The  purely  abstract  sense  survives  in 
the  phrase  " to  keep  sentry"  i.e.  guard —  . 

"Here  toils,  and  Death,  and  Death's  half-brother,  Sleep, 
Forms  terrible  to  view  their  centry  2  keep." 

(Dryden,  ^neidy  vi.  277.) 

It  is  a  contracted  form  of  sanctuary.  In  the  17th 
century  it  is  a  pretty  familiar  word  in  this  sense.^  The 
earliest  example  I  have  come  across  is  in  Nashe — 

"He  hath  no  way  now  to  slyppe  out  of  my  hands,  but  to  take 
sentrie  in  the  Hospital  of  Warwick." 

(First  Part  of  Pasquil's  Apologie^  1590.) 

Fr.  guirite,  a  sentry  box,  can  be  traced  back  in  the 

*  This  is  why  so  many  French  miUtary  terms  are  feminine,  e.g.,  recrue, 
sentinelle,  vedette ,  etc. 

2  Skinner's  Etymologicon  (1671)  has  the  two  entries,  centry  pro  sanctuary 
and  centry  v.  sentinel.  The  spellings  centry  and  centinel,  which  were  common 
when  the  words  still  had  a  collective  sense,  are  perhaps  due  to  some  fancied 
connection  with  century^  a  hundred  soldiers. 


104  SEMANTICS 

same  way  to  Old  Fr.  garir  {gu^rir)^  to  save.  Cotgrave 
explains  it  as  "  a  place  of  refuge,  and  of  safe  retyrall," 
also  "  a  sentrie,  or  little  lodge  for  a  sentinell,  built  on 
high."  It  is  to  this  latter  sense  that  we  owe  Eng. 
garret  In  medieval  French  gu^rite  means  refuge, 
sanctuary — 

"  Ceste  roche  est  Ihesucrist  meismes  qui  est  li  refuges  et  la 
garite  aus  humbles."  ^ 

If  French  had  not  borrowed  sentinelle  from  Italian, 
guirite  would  probably  now  mean  "  sentry " ;  cf.  the 
history  of  vigie  (p.  103),  or  of  vedette^  a  cavalry  sentry, 
but  originally  "a  prying  or  peeping  hole"  (Florio), 
from  Ital.  vedere^  to  see. 

1  "  This  rock,  is  Jesus  Christ  himself,  who  is  the  refuge  and  sanctuary 
of  the  humble." 


CHAPTER  VIII 

METAPHOR 

Every  expression  that  we  employ,  apart  from  those 
that  are  connected  with  the  most  rudimentary  objects 
and  actions,  is  a  metaphor,  though  the  original  meaning 
is  dulled  by  constant  use.  Thus,  in  the  above  sentence, 
expression  means  what  is  "  squeezed  out,"  to  employ  is  to 
"  twine  in  "  like  a  basket  maker,  to  connect  is  to  "  weave 
together,"  rudimentary  means  "  in  the  rough  state,"  and 
an  object  is  something  "  thrown  in  our  way."  A  classifica- 
tion of  the  metaphors  in  use  in  the  European  languages 
would  show  that  a  large  number  of  the  most  obvious 
kind,  i.e.  of  those  which  "come  to  meet"  one,  are 
common  property,  while  others  would  reflect  the  most 
striking  habits  and  pursuits  of  the  various  races.  It 
would  probably  be  found  that  in  the  common  stock  of 
simple  metaphor  the  most  important  contribution  would 
come  from  agriculture,  while  in  English  the  nautical 
element  would  occur  to  an  extent  quite  unparalleled  in 
other    European    languages.^     A    curious    agricultural 

*  It  would  be  interesting  to  trace  the  rise  and  spread  of  nautical  meta- 
phor in  English.  We  have  a  good  example  of  the  transition  from  the 
bucolic  to  the  nautical  in  the  expression  "  To  lose  the  ship  for  a  ha'porth 
of  tar."  Few  people  who  use  this  metaphor  know  that  ship  is  here  the 
dialect  pronunciation  of  sheep  ;  cf.  Ship  Street^  at  Oxford  (and  elsewhere), 
for  Sheep  Street,  Tar  was,  and  is,  used  as  a  medicine  for  sheep,  but  in  this 
particular  case  the  allusion  seems  to  be  rather  to  the  marking  of  sheep 
with  tar;  cf,  "tarred  with  the  same  brush,"  ue, 
flock. 

105 


106  METAPHOR 

metaphor  which,   though   of  Old    French  origin,  now 
appears  to  be  peculiar  to  English,  is  to  rehearse^  lit. 
harrow  over  again  (see  hearse,  p.  75). 

Some  metaphors  are  easy  to  track.  It  does  not 
require  much  philological  knowledge  to  see  that 
astonish^  astound,  and  stun  all  contain  the  idea  of 
"  thunder  -  striking,"  Vulgar  Lat.  *ex  -  tonare.  To 
embarrass  is  obviously  connected  with  bar,  and  to 
interfere  is  to  "strike  between,"  Old  Fr.  entreferir. 
This  word  was  especially  used  in  the  i6th  century  of  a 
horse  knocking  its  legs  together  in  trotting,  "  to  inter- 
feere,  as  a  horse"  (Cotgrave).  When  we  speak  of  a 
prentice-hand,  sound  journeyman  work,  and  a  masterpiece, 
we  revive  the  medieval  classification  of  artisans  into 
learners,  qualified  workmen,  and  those  who,  by  the 
presentation  to  their  guild  of  a  finished  piece  of  work, 
were  recognised  as  past  (passed)  masters. 

But  many  of  our  metaphors  are  drawn  from  pursuits 
with  which  we  are  no  longer  familiar,  or  from  arts  and 
sciences  no  longer  practised.  Disaster,  ill-starred,  and 
such  adjectives  as  jovial,  mercurial,  are  reminiscent  of 
astrology.  To  bring  a  thing  to  the  test  is  to  put  it  in 
the  alchemist's  or  metallurgist's  test  or  trying -pot 
(cf.  ^^i-/-tube).  Old  Fr.  test  (tit).  This  is  related  to  Old 
Fr.  teste  {tite\  head,  from  Lat.  testa,  tile,  pot,  etc.,  used 
in  Roman  slang  for  caput.  Shakespeare  has  the 
complete  metaphor — 

"  Let  there  be  some  more  test  made  of  my  metal,> 
Before  so  noble  and  so  great  a. figure 
Be  stamp'd  upon  it.*' 

{Measure  for  Measure^  i.  i.) 

The  old  butchers*  shops  which  adjoin  Nottingham 
Market  Place  are  still  called  the  Shambles.     The  word 

*  See  mettle,  p.  144. 


SHAMBLES— SPICK  AND  SPAN  107 

is  similarly  used  at  Carlisle,  and  probably  elsewhere  ;  but 
to  most  people  it  is  familiar  only  in  the  metaphorical 
sense  of  place  of  slaughter,  generally  regarded  as  a 
singular.     Thus  Denys  of  Burgundy  says — 

"  The  beasts  are  in  the  shambles." 

{Cloister  and  Hearth^  Ch.  33.) 

etymologically  misusing  the  word,  which  does- not  mean 
slaughter-house,  but  the  bench  on  which  meat  is  exposed 
for  sale.  It  is  a  very  early  loan  from  Lat.  scamnum^  a 
bench  or  form,  also  explained  by  Cooper  as  "a  step 
or  grice  (see  p.  118)  to  get  up  to  bedde."  The  same 
diminutive  form  occurs  in  Fr.  escabeaUy  an  office  stool, 
and  Ger.  Schemel^  a  stool. 

Fusty ^  earlier  foisty,  is  no  longer  used  in  its  proper 
sense.  It  comes  from  Old  Fr.  fust^,  "fusty ;  tasting  of 
the  caske,  smelling  of  the  vessell  wherein  it  hath  been 
kept "  (Cotgrave),  a  derivative  of  Old  Fr.  fust  {filt)^  a 
cask.^ 

The  smith's  art  has  given  us  brand-new^  often 
corrupted  into  bran-new.     Shakespeare  uses  fire-new — 

"  You  should  then  have  accosted  her  ;  and  with  some  excellent 
\^^\.s^  fire-new  from  the  mint,  you  should  have  banged  the  youth 
into  dumbness."    {Twelfth  Nighty  iii.  2.) 

Modern  German  has  funkelnagelneu,  spark  nail  new; 
but  in  older  German  we  find  also  spanneu^  splinterneu^ 
chip  new,  splinter  new ;  which  shows  the  origin  of  our 
spick  and  span  (new),  ?>.,  spike  and  chip  new.  French 
has  tout  battant  neuf  beating  new,  ?>.,  fresh  from  the 
anvil. 

Many  old  hunting  terms  survive  as  metaphors.     To 

1  Lat.  fustis,  a  staff,  cudgel,  gave  also  Old  Fr.  fust^  a  kind  of  boat, 
whence  obsolete  Eng.  foist  in  the  same  sense.  Both  meanings  seem  to 
go  back  to  a  time  when  casks  and  boats  were  '*  dug  out "  instead  of 
being  built  up. 


108  METAPHOR 

be  at  bay^  Fr.  aux  abois^  is  to  be  facing  the  bayi 
hounds.  The  fundamental  meaning  of  Old  Fr.  abaier\ 
{aboyer\  of  obscure  origin,  is  perhaps  to  gape  at.^  Thus 
a  right  or  estate  which  is  in  abeyajice  is  one  regarded 
with  open-mouthed  expectancy.  The  toils  are  Fr. 
totles^  lit.  cloths,  Lat.  tela^  the  nets  put  round  a  thicket 
to  prevent  the  game  from  escaping.  To  "beat  about 
the  bush"  seems  to  be  a  mixture  of  two  metaphors 
which  are  quite  unlike  in  meaning.  To  "beat  the 
bush"  was  the  office  of  the  beaters,  who  started  the 
game  for  others,  hence  an  old  proverb,  '*  I  will  not  beat 
the  bush  that  another  may  have  the  birds."  To  "go 
about  the  bush"  would  seem  to  have  been  used 
originally  of  a  hesitating  hound.  The  two  expressions 
have  coalesced  to  express  the  idea  for  which  French 
says  "y  aller  par  quatre  chemins."  Crestfallen  and 
white  feather  belong  to  the  old  sport  of  cock-fighting. 
feopardy  is  Old  Yr.jeu  parti,  a  divided  game,  hence  an 
equal  encounter.  To  run  full  tilt  is  a  jousting  phrase. 
To  pounce  upon  is  to  seize  in  the  pounces,  the  old  word 
for  a  hawk's  claws.  The  ultimate  source  is  Lat. 
pungere,  to  prick,  pierce.  A  goldsmith's  punch  was 
also  called  a  pounce,  hence  the  verb  to  pounce,  to  make 
patterns  on  metal.  The  northern  past  participle 
pouncet'^  occurs  in  pouncet-box,  a  metal  perforated  globe 
for  scents — 

"  And  'twixt  his  finger  and  his  thumb  he  held 
P^  pouncet-box,  which  ever  and  anon 
He  gave  his  nose,  and  took't  away  again." 

(i  Henry  I V.^  i.  3.) 

To   the   language   of  hawking   belongs   also   haggard. 
Cotgrave  defines /«2//<f^;2  {faucon)  hagard,  as  "a  faulcon 

^  Related  are  bouche  beante^  or  bee,  mouth  agape  ;  bailler,  to  yawn  ;  and 
hadaud,  *'  a  gaping  hoydon  "  (Cotgrave,  badaulf), 

2  Cf.  the  Stickit  Minister.  ^ 


SPORTING  METAPHORS  109 

that  preyed  for  her  selfe  long  before  she  was  taken." 
Hence  the  sense  of  wild,  untameable.  The  original 
meaning  is  hedge-hawk,  the  first  syllable  representing 
Old  High  Ger.  hag^  hedge.  Hag^  a  witch,  is  of  cognate 
origin. 

The  antiquity  of  dicing  appears  in  the  history  of 
Ger.  gefallen,  to  please,  originally  used  of  the  "  fall "  of 
the.  dice.  In  Mid.  High  German  it  is  always  used 
with  wohly  well,  or  ilbel^  ill ;  e.g.,  es  gefdllt  mir  wohl^  it 
"  falls  out "  well  for  me.  There  can  be  no  reasonable 
doubt  that  the  deuce  !  is  a  dicer's  exclamation  at  making 
the  lowest  throw,  two,  Fr.  deux.  We  still  use  deuce  for 
the  two  in  cards,  and  German  has  Daus  in  both  senses. 
Tennis  has  given  us  bandy ^  Fr.  bander^  "  to  bandie^  at 
tennis"  (Cotgrave).  We  now  only  bandy  words  or 
reproaches,  but  Juliet  understood  the  word  in  its  literal 
sense —     *^ 

"  Had  she  affections  and  warm  youthful  blood, 
She'd  be  as  swift  in  motion  as  a  ball ; 
My  words  would  bandy  her  to  my  sweet  love, 
And  his  to  me."  {Rojneo  and  Juliet^  ii.  5.) 

Fowling  has  given  us  cajole^  decoy,  and  trepan.  Fr. 
cajoler,  which  formerly  meant  to  chatter  like  a  jay  in  a 
cage,  has  in  modern  French  assumed  the  meaning  of 
enjoler,  earlier  engeoler,  "to  incage,  or  ingaole" 
(Cotgrave),  hence  to  entice.  Fr.  gedle,  gaol,  represents 
Vulgar  Lat.  *caveola.  Decoy,  earlier  also  coy,  is  Du. 
kooi,  cage.  The  later  form  is  perhaps  due  to  duck-coy. 
Du.  kooi  is  also  of  Latin  origin.  It  comes,  like  Fr. 
cage,  from  Vulgar  Lat.  *cavea,  and  has  a  doublet  kevie^ 
whence  Scot,  cavie,  a  hen-coop.  Trepan  was  formerly 
trapan,  and  belongs  to  trap — 

"  Some  by  the  nose  with  fumes  trapan  'em, 
As  Dunstan  did  the  devil's  grannam." 

{ffudibraSf  ii.  3.) 


110  METAPHOR 

It  is  now  equivalent  to  kidnaps  i.e.  to  nab  kids  (children j, 
once  a  lucrative  pursuit.  The  surgical  trepan  is 
different  word  altogether,  and  belongs  to  Greco-Lat. 
trypanon,  an  auger,  piercer.  To  allure  is  to  bring  to  the 
lure,  or  bait  To  the  same  group  of  metaphors  belongs 
inveigle,  which  corresponds,  with  altered  prefix,  to  Fr, 
aveugler,  to  blind.  Vulgar  Lat  *  ab-oculare.  A  distant 
relative  of  this  word  is  ogle,  probably  Low  German 
or  Dutch ;  cf.  Ger.  liebdugeln  "  to  ogle,  to  smicker,  to 
look  amorously,  to  cast  sheeps-eyes,  to  cast  amorous 
looks"  (Ludwig).  It  is  possible  that  wheedle,  the  origin 
of  which  is  quite  unknown,  belongs  here  also.  Ludwig 
explains  Schlinge,  properly  a  noose,  as  a  "gin,  snare, 
trap,  train,  or  wheedle''' 

The  synonymous  cozen  is  a  metaphor  of  quite 
another  kind.  Every  young  noble  who  did  the  grand 
tour  in  the  i6th  and  17th  centuries  spent  some  time 
at  Naples,  "  where  he  may  improve  his  knowledge 
in  horsemanship"  (Howell,  Instructions  for  Forreine 
Travell,  1642).  Now  the  Italian  horse-dealers  were  so 
notorious  that  Dekker,  writing  about  1600,  describes  a 
swindling  "  horse-courser "  as  a  "  meere  jadish  Non 
politane,"  a  play  on  Neapolitan.  The  Italian  name  is 
cozzone,  "a  horse-courser,  a  horse-breaker,  a  craftie 
knave  "  (Florio),  whence  the  verb  cozzonare,  "  to  have 
perfect  skill  in  all  cosenages  "  (Torriano).  The  essential 
idea  of  to  cozen  in  the  Elizabethans  is  that  of  selling 
faulty  goods  in  a  bad  light,  a  device  said  to  be 
practised  by  some  horse-dealers.  At  any  rate  the 
words  for  horse-dealer  in  all  languages,  from  the  Lat. 
mango  to  the  Amer.  horse-swapper,  mean  swindler  and 
worse  things.  Cozen  is  a  favourite  word  with  the 
Elizabethan  dramatists,  because  it  enables  them  to  bring 
off  one  of  those  stock  puns  that  make  one  feel  "  The 
less  Shakespeare  he  " — 


HORTICULTURE  111 

"  Cousins^  indeed  ;  and  by  their  uncle  cozerid 
Of  comfort,  kingdom,  kindred,  freedom,  life." 

{^Richard  111.^  iv.  4.) 

In  the  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor  (iv.  5)  there  is  a 
lot  of  word-play  on  "  cousins-german  "  and  "  German 
cozeners."  An  exact  parallel  to  the  history  of  cozen  is 
furnished  by  the  verb  to  jockey^  from  jockey^  in  its  older 
sense  of  horse-dealer. 

Scion  is  a  metaphor  from  the  garden.  It  is  Fr. 
scion^  "  a  scion  ;  a  young  and  tender  plant ;  a  shoot, 
sprig,  or  twig"  (Cotgrave).  Ger.  Sprossling,  sprout- 
ling,  is  also  used  of  an  "  offshoot  "  from  a  "  stock."  We 
have  a  similar  metaphor  in  the  word  imp.  We  now 
graft  trees,  a  misspelling  of  older  graffe^  Fr.  greffe^ 
Greco-Lat.  graphium,  a  pencil,  from  the  shape  of  the 
slip.  But  the  older  word  was  imp^  which  we  find  also 
used  of  inserting  a  new  feather  into  the  wing  or  tail  of 
a  hawk,  or  fitting  a  small  bell-rope  to  a  larger  one. 
The  art  of  grafting  was  learnt  from  the  Romans,  who 
had  a  post  -  classical  verb  imputare}  to  graft,  which 
has  given  Eng.  imp^  Ger,  impfen,  Fr.  enter^  and  is  repre- 
sented in  most  other  European  languages.  Imp  was 
used  like  scion^  but  degenerated  in  meaning.  In 
Shakespeare  it  has  already  the  somewhat  contemptuous 
shade  of  meaning  which  we  find  in  Ger.  Sprdssling^ 
and  is  only  used  by  comic  characters.  Thus  Pistol 
addresses  Prince  Hal — 

"The  heavens  thee  guard  and  keep,  most  royal  imp  of  fame." 

(2  Henry  /K,  v.  5.) 
But  Thomas   Cromwell,  in   his   last   letter    to    Henry 
VIII.,  speaks  of — 

"That  most  noble  imp^  the  prince's  grace,  your  most  dear  son." 
The  special  sense  of  "young  devil"  appears  to  be  due 

^    Of  uncertain  origin,     Lat.  putare^  to   cut  (cf.  amputate)^  or   Gk. 
IfKpvTos^  implanted  ? 


112  METAPHOR 

to  the  frequent  occurrence  of  such  phrases  as  ^^imps 
(children)  of  Satan,"  "  the  devil  and  his  impsl'  etc.  Ger. 
impfen  also  means  to  vaccinate.  Our  earlier  term 
inoculate'^  originally  meant  to  graft,  and,  in  fact, 
engraft  was  also  used  in  this  sense. 

Zest  is  quite  obsolete  in  its  original  meaning  of  a 
piece  of  orange  peel  used  to  give  piquancy  to  wine.  It 
is  a  French  word  of  unknown  origin,  properly  applied  to 
the  inner  skin  of  fruit  and  nuts.  Cotgrave  explains  it 
as  "  the  thick  skinne,  or  filme  whereby  the  kernell  of  a 
wallnut  is  divided." 

^  From  oculus^  eye,  in  the  sense  of  bud* 


CHAPTER   IX 

FOLK-ETYMOLOGY 

The  sound,  spelling,  and  even  the  meaning  of  a  word  are 
often  perverted  by  influences  to  which  the  collective  name 
of  folk-etymology  has  been  given.  I  here  use  the  term 
to  include  all  phenomena  which  are  due  to  any  kind  of 
misunderstanding  of  a  word.  A  word  beginning  with 
n  sometimes  loses  this  sound  through  its  being  confused 
with  the  n  of  the  indefinite  article  an.  Thus  an  adder 
and  an  auger  are  for  a  nadder  {cf.  Ger.  Natter^  and  a 
naugery  Mid.  Eng.  navegor^  properly  an  instrument  for 
piercing  the  nave  of  a  wheel.  Apron  wdiS  in  Mid.  English 
naprun^  from  Old  Fr.  naperon^  a  derivative  oinappe,  cloth. 
The  aitch-bone  was  formerly  the  nache-bone,  from  Old  Fr. 
nache^  buttock.  Vulgar  Lat.  '^natica  for  nates.  Nache  is 
still  used  by  French  butchers.  Humble-pie  is  a  popular 
perversion  of  umble-pie^  i.e.,  a  pie  made  from  the  umbles^ 
or  inferior  parts  of  the  stag.  But  umble  is  for  earlier 
numbky  Old  Fr.  nomble^  formed,  with  dissimilation,  from 
Lat.  lumbuluSy  diminutive  of  lumbus^  loin ;  cf.  niveau 
(p.  58).  Thus  humble-pie  has  etymologically  no  connec- 
tion with  humility.  Umpire  represents  Old  Fr.  non  per 
{pair),  not  equal,  the  umpire  being  a  third  person  called 
in  when  arbitrators  could  not  agree.  This  appears 
clearly  in  the  following  extract  from  a  medieval  letter — 

"And  if   so  be   that   the   said   arbitrators   may  not    accord 
before  the   said  feast  of  Allhalowes,  then   the  said   parties  be 
u?  H 


114  FOLK-ETYMOLOGY 

the  advise  abovesaid  are  agreed  to  abide  the  award  and  ordin- 
ance of  an  noumper  to  be  chosen  be  the  said  arbitrators." 

{Plumpton  Correspondence^  I43i') 

For  the  sense  we  may  compare  Span,  tercero^  "the 
third,  a  broaker,  a  mediator"  (Percy vail).  An  eyas 
falcon  is  for  a  neyas  falcon,  Fr.  niais^  foolish,  lit.  nestling, 
related  to  nid^  nest.  Rosenkrantz  uses  it  in  the  literal 
sense — 

"  But  there  is,  sir,  an  aiery  of  children,  little  eyases^  that  cry 
out  on  the  top  of  question,  and  are  most  tyranically  clapped  for't." 

{Hamlet^  ii.  2.) 

Somewhat  similar  is  the  loss  in  French  of  initial  a  iri 
la  boutique  for  Vaboutique^  Greco-Lat.  apotheca^  and  la 
Pouille  for  PApouille,  Apulia,  or  of  the  initial  /  in  ounce^ 
a  kind  of  tiger-cat,  from  Fr.  once^  earlier  lonce^  "the 
ounce^  a  ravenous  beast"  (Cotgrave),  taken  as  ronce. 
It  is  almost  a  doublet  of  lynx. 

The  opposite  has  happened  in  the  case  of  a  newt 
for  an  ewt  and  <3:  nick-name  for  an  eke-name.  Eke^  also 
occurs  in  the  first  stanza  of  John  Gilpin.  It  is  cognate 
with  Ger.  auch,  also,  and  Lat.  augere^  to  increase.  Nunchy 
the  customary  address  of  a  court  fool  to  his  superiors 

"How  now,  nuncle !  Would  I  had  two  coxcombs  and  two 
daughters."  {Lear^  i.  4.) 

IS  for  mine  uncle.  We  also  find  naunt.  Nonce  occurs 
properly  only  in  the  phrase  for  the  nonce,  which  is  for 
earlier  for  then  ones,  where  then  is  the  dative  of  the 
definite  article.  Family  names  like  Nash,  Nokes  are 
aphetic  for  atten  ash,  at  the  ash,  atten  oakes,  at  the  oaks. 
The  creation  of  such  forms  was  perhaps  helped  by  our 
tendency  to  use  initial  n  in  Christian  names,  e.g.,  Ned 
for  Edward^  Noll  for  Oliver,  Nell  for  Ellen, 


AGGLUTINATION  OF  THE  ARTICLE      115 

Agglutination  of  the  definite  article  is  common  in 
French,  e.g.,  lingot^  ingot,  lierre^  ivy,  for  Pzerre,  Lat. 
hedera,  and  the  dialect  IMer^  sink,  for  ^vier^  Lat, 
aquariuMy  whence  Eng.  ewer.  The  derivation  of  Fr. 
landter,  andiron,  is  unknown,  but  the  iron  of  the 
English  word  is  due  to  folk-etymology.  Such  agglutina- 
tion occurs  often  in  family  names  such  as  Langlois,  lit. 
the  Englishman,  Lhuissier^  the  usher  (see  p.  90),  and 
some  of  these  have  passed  into  English,  e.g.,  Levick  for 
l^ivique^  the  bishop. 

The  two  words  alarm  and  alert  include  the  Italian 
definite  article.  The  first  is  Ital.  aWarmey  to  arms,  for 
a  le  arme,  and  the  second  is  aWerta  for  alia  (a  la)  erta^ 
the  last  word  representing  Lat.  erecta.  With  rolled  r^ 
alarm  becomes  alarum^  whence  the  aphetic  larum — 

"  Then  we  shall  hear  their  larum^  and  they  ours." 

{CoriolanuSy  i.  4.) 

Ger.  Ldrm^  noise,  is  the  same  word.  In  Luther's  time 
we  also  find  Allerm. 

We  have  the  Arabic  definite  article  in  a  great 
many  words  borrowed  from  Spanish.  Alcalde ^  or 
alcade,  and  alguazil,  common  in  Elizabethan  literature, 
are  two  old  friends  from  the  Arabian  Nights ^  the  cadi 
and  the  wazir,  or  vizier  The  Arabic  article  also  occurs 
in  acton^  Old  Fr.  auqueton^  now  hoqueton^  for  al  colony 
because  originally  used  of  a  wadded  coat — 

"  But  Cranstoun's  lance,  of  more  avail, 
Pierced  through,  like  silk,  the  Borderer's  mail ; 
Through  shield,  and  jack,  and  acton  past. 
Deep  in  his  bosom  broke  at  last." 

(Scott,  Layy  iii.  6.) 

In  alligatory  Span,  el  lagartOy  the  lizard,  from  Lat. 
lacertuSy  we  have  the  Spanish  definite  article.  See  also 
lariaty  p.  24. 


116  FOLK-ETYMOLOGY   ' 

A  foreign  word  ending  in  a  sibilant  is  sometimes  mis- 
taken for  a  plural.  Thus  Old  Fr.  assets  (assez),  enough,] 
Lat  ad  satis^  has  given  Eng.  assets,  plural,  with  a] 
barbarous,  but  useful,  singular  asset.  Cherry  is  for  cherisy 
from  a  dialect  form  of  Fr.  cerise,  and  sherry  fori 
sherris,  from  Xeres  in  Spain  (see  p.  51).  Falstaff  opines] 
that— 

"  A  good  skem's-sa.ck.  ^  hath  a  twofold  operation  in  it." 

(2  Henry  IV.,  iv.  3,) 

Pea  is  a  false  singular  from  older  pease,  Lat.  pisum. 
Perhaps  the  frequent  occurrence  of  pease-soup,  not  to 
be  distinguished  from  pea-soup,  is  partly  responsible 
for  this  mistake.  Marquee,  a  large  tent,  is  from  Fr. 
marquise.  With  this  we  may  class  the  heathen  Chinee 
and  the  Portugee.     Milton  wrote  correctly  of — 

"  The  barren  plains 
Of  Sericana,  where  Chineses  drive 
With  sails  and  wind  their  cany  waggons  light." 

{Paradise  Lost,  iii.  43S.) 

It  has  been  ingeniously  suggested  that  Yankee  is 
derived  in  the  same  way  from  Du.  Jan  Kees,  John 
Cornelius,  derisively  applied  to  the  original  Dutch 
inhabitants  of  New  England.  The  vulgarism  shay  for 
chaise  ^  is  of  similar  formation.  Corp,  for  corpse,  is  also 
used  provincially.  Kickshaws  is  really  a  singular  from 
Fr.  quelque  chose — 

"Art  thou  good  at  these  kickshawses,  knight?" 

{Twelfth  Night,  i.  3.) 

Cotgrave  spells  it  quelkchoses  (s.v.  fricandeau). 

*  Sack,  earlier  also  seek,  is  Fr.  sec^  dry,  which,  with  spurious  /,  has  also 
given  Ger.  Sekt,  now  used  for  champagne. 

^  Fr.  chaise,  chair,  for  older  chaire,  now  used  only  of  a  pulpit  or  pro- 
fessorial chair,  Lat.  cathedra,  is  due  to  an  aflFected  pronunciation  that 
prevailed  in  Paris  in  the  i6th  century. 


FALSE  SINGULARS  AND  DOUBLE  PLURALS     117 

Skate  has  a  curious  history.  It  is  a  false  singular 
from  Du.  schaats.  This  is  from  escache^  an  Old  French 
dialect  form  of  ^chasse^  stilt,  which  was  used  in  the 
^  Middle  Ages  for  a  wooden  leg.  It  is  of  German  origin, 
and  is  related  to  shank.  Cf.y  for  the  sense  develop- 
ment, Eng.  patten^  from  Fr.  patin^  a  derivative  of  patte^ 
foot,  cognate  with  paw.  Skates  are  still  called  pattens 
by  the  fenmen  of  Cambridgeshire.  We  also  had 
formerly  a  doublet  from  Old  Fr.  escache  directly,  but 
in  the  older  sense,  for  Cotgrave  has  eschasses  (Jchasses\ 
"stilts,  or  scatches  to  go  on."  Row^  a  disturbance, 
belongs  to  rouse^  a  jollification — 


f 


"  The  king  doth  wake  to-night  and  takes  his  rouse." 

{Hamlet^  i.  4.) 


of  uncertain  origin,  but  probably  aphetic  for  carouse, 
I  drink  carouse  being  wrongly  separated  as  drink  a  rouse.^ 
The  bird  called  a  wheatear  was  formerly  called 
wheatears,  a  corruption  of  a  name  best  explained 
by  its  French  equivalent  cul  blanc,  "the  bird  called 
a  whittaile"  (Cotgrave).  We  may  compare  the  bird- 
name  redstart,  where  start  means  rump. 

Conversely  a  word  used  in  the  plural  is  sometimes 
regarded  as  a  singular,  the  result  being  a  double 
plural.  Many  Latin  neuter  plurals  were  adopted  into 
French  as  feminine  singulars,  e.g.,  cornua,  come,  horn; 
labra,  levre,  lip ;  vela,  voile,  sail.  It  is  obvious  that  this 
is  most  likely  to  occur  in  the  case  of  plurals  which  are 
used  for  a  pair,  or  set,  of  things,  and  thus  have  a  kind 
of  collective  sense.  Breeches  or  breeks  is  a  double  plural, 
Anglo-Sax.  brec  being  already  the  plural  of  brdc.  In 
Mid.  English  we  still  find  breche  or  breke  used  of  this 
garment.  Trousers  was  earlier  trouses,  plural  of  trouse^ 
now  trews,  and  was  used  especially  of  Irish  native 
costume.     The   latest  researches  throw  doubt   on  the 

H  2 


118  FOLK-ETYMOLOGY 

identity  of  these  words  with  Fr.  trousse,  a  page's  shor 
breeches.  The  etymology  which  now  finds  most  favou 
is  Irish  and  Gaelic  triubhas^  from  Late  Lat.  tubracci  o 
tribracciy  which  is  supposed  to  be  a  corrupted  compounc 
from  tibia^  leg,  shank,  and  braccce^  breeches.  Bodice  is 
for  bodies^  as  pence  is  for  pennies.  Cotgrave  explain 
corset  by  "  a  paire  of  bodies  for  a  woman,"  and  the  plura 
sense  occurs  as  late  as  Harrison  Ainsworth — 

"A  pair  of  bodice  of  the  cumbrous  form  in  vogue  at  the 
beginning  of  the  last  century."     {Jack  Sheppard,  Ch.  i.) 

Trace^  ot  a  horse,  is  the  Old  Fr.  plural  trais^  {traits^ 
of  traity  "a  teame-trace"  (Cotgrave).  Apprentice  is 
the  plural  of  Fr.  apprenti^  formerly  apprentif,  a  deri- 
vative of  apprendrCy  to  learn,  hence  a  disciple. '  Invoice 
is  the  plural  of  the  obsolete  invoy^  from  Fr.  envoi^ 
sending. 

In  the  Grecian  steps ^  at  Lincoln,  we  have  a  popular 
corruption  of  the  common  Mid.  Eng.  and  Tudor  ^-rece^ 
grese,  plural  of  Old  Fr.  gr^j  step,  from  Lat.  gradus: 
Shakespeare  spells  it  grize — 

"  Let  me  speak  like  yourself ;  and  lay  a  sentence, 
Which,  as  a  grize^  or  step,  may  help  these  lovers 
Into  your  favour." 

{Othello,  i.  3.) 

Scot,  brose,  or  brewis,  was  in  Mid.  Eng.  browes,  from 
Old  Fr.  brouez,  plural  of  brouet^  a  word  cognate  with 
our  broth.  From  this  association  comes  perhaps  the 
use  of  broth  as  a  plural  in  some  of  our  dialects.  Porridge, 
not  originally  limited  to  oatmeal,  seems  to  be  combined 
from  pottage  and  Mid.  Eng.  porrets,  plural  oiporret,  leek, 

^  The  fact  that  in  Old  French  the  final  consonant  of  the  singular 
disappeared  in  the  plural  form  helped  to  bring  about  such  misunder- 
standings. 


SINGULARS  FROM  PLURALS  119 

a  diminutive  from  \^2X.  porrum.  Porridge  is  sometimes 
used  as  a  plural  in  Scottish — 

"  They're  fine,  halesome  food,  they're  grand  food,  parriich." 

{Kidnapped,  Ch.  3.) 

and  in  the  northern  counties  of  England  people  speak  of 
taking  "  a  few  "  porridge,  or  broth.  Baize,  now  generally- 
green,  is  for  earlier  bayes,  the  plural  of  the  adjective  bay, 
now  used  only  of  horses ;  cf.  Du.  baai,  baize.  The  origin  of 
the  adjective  bay,  Fr.  bai,  forms  of  which  occur  in  all  the 
Romance  languages,  is  Lat.  badius,  "of  bay  colour, 
bayarde  "  (Cooper).  Hence  the  name  Bayard,  applied 
to  Fitzjames'  horse  in  The  Lady  of  the  Lake  (v.  18),  and 

\  earlier  to  the  steed  that  carried  the  four  sons  of  Aymon. 

I  Quince  is  the  plural  of  quin,  ffom  the  Norman  form  of 

!  Old  Fr.  coin  {coing),  ultimately  from  Cydonia,  in  Crete. 

1  Truce  is  the  plural  of  Mid.  Eng.  trewe  with  the  same 
meaning.     It  is  related  to  Eng.  true,  but,  in  this  sense, 

(probably  comes  to  us  from  Old  Fr.  triiie  {tjrve),  truce. 
Lettuce,  Mid.  Eng.  letows,  seems  also  to  be  a  plural, 
from  Fr.  laitue,  Lat.  lactuca. 

Earnest  in  the  sense  of  pledge — 

"  And,  for  an  earnest  of  a  greater  honour, 
He  bade  me,  from  him,  call  thee  Thane  of  Cawdor." 

{Macbeth,  i.  3.) 

has  nothing  to  do  with  the  adjective  earnest.  It  is  the 
Mid.  Eng.  ernes,  earlier  erles,  which  survives  as  arles 
in  some  of  our  dialects.  The  verb  to  earl  is  still 
used  in  Cumberland  of  "  enlisting "  a  servant  with  a 
shilling  in  the  open  market.  The  Old  French  word 
was  arres  or  erres,  now  written  learnedly  arrhes,  a 
plural  from  Lat.  arrha,  "an  earnest  penny,  earnest 
money "  (Cooper).  The  existence  of  Mid.  Eng.  erles ' 
shows  that  there  must  have  been  also  an  Old  French 
diminutive  form.     For  the  apparently  arbitrary  change 


120  FOLK-ETYMOLOGY 

of  /  to  n  we  may  compare  banister  for  baluster 
(see  p.  60). 

11\\Q  jesses  of  a  hawk — ■ 

"  If  I  do  prove  her  haggard,* 
Though  that  \:^^x  jesses  were  my  dear  heart-strings, 
I'd  whistle  her  off,  and  let  her  down  the  wind, 
To  prey  at  fortune." 

{Othello^  iii.  3.) 

were  the  thongs  by  which  it  was  held  or  "  thrown  "  into 
the  air.  Jess  is  the  Old  Fr.  jes,  the  plural  oi  jet,  from 
Jeter,  to  throw.  In  Colman's  Elder  Brother  we  read  o; 
a  gentleman  who  lounged  and  chatted,  "  not  mindin 
time  a  souse!^  where  souse  is  the  plural  of  Fr.  sou,  half 
penny.  From  Fr.  muer,  to  moult,  Lat.  mutare,  we  get 
Fr.  mue,  moulting,  later  applied  to  the  coop  or  pen  i] 
which  moulting  falcons  were  confined,  whence  the  phras 
"  to  mew  (up)  " — 

"  More  pity,  that  the  eagles  should  be  mew'd. 
While  kites  and  buzzards  prey  at  liberty." 

{Richard  HI.,  i.  i.) 

When,  in  1534,  the  royal  mews,  or  hawk-houses,  neai 
Charing  Cross  were  rebuilt  as  stables,  the  word  acquirec 
its  present  meaning. 

Chess,  Old  Fr.  esches  (Jchecs),  is  the  plural  of  check, 
Fr.  echec,  from  Persian  shah,  king.  By  analogy  with 
the  "game  of  kings,"  the  name/*?^  des  dames  was  give 
in  French  to  draughts,  still  called  dams  in  Scotland 
Draught,  from  draw,  meant  in  Mid.  English  a  "  move '' 
at  chess.  The  etymology  of  tweezers  can  best  be 
made  clear  by  starting  from  French  etui,  a  case,  oj 
doubtful  origin.  This  became  in  English  etwee,  01 
tivee,  e.g.,  Cotgrave  explains  estui  {etui)  as  "a  sheath, 
case,  or  box  to  put  things  in  ;  and  (more  particularly) 
a  case  of  little  instruments,  as  sizzars,  bodkin,  penknife, 

*  For  haggard ^  see  p.  108. 


ANALOGY  121 

tc,  now  commonly  termed  an  ettwee."  Such  a  case 
generally  opens  book-fashion,  each  half  being  fitted 
with  instruments.  Accordingly  we  find  it  called  a 
surgeon's  "  pair  of  tweesl^  or  simply  tweese,  and  later  a 
"pair  of  tweeses^  The  implement  was  named  from 
the  case  {cf.  Fr.  boussole,  p.  127),  and  became  tweezers 
by  association  ^\\.h.  pincers  {¥r.  pinces),  scissors^  etc. 

The  form  of  a  word  is  often  affected  by  association 
with  some  other  word  with  which  it  is  instinctively 
coupled.  Thus  larboard,  for  Mid.  Eng.  ladeboard,  i.e. 
loading  side,  is  due  to  starboard,  steering  side.  Bridal, 
for  bride-ale,  from  the  liquid  consumed  at  marriage 
festivities,  is  due  to  analogy  with  betrothal,  espousal, 
etc.  A  16th-century  Puritan  records  with  satisfaction 
the  disappearance  of — 

"  Church-ales,  helpe-ales,  and  soule-ales,  called  also  dirge-ales, 
and  heathenish  rioting  at  bride-ales." 

(Harrison,  Description  of  England,  1577.) 

Rampart  is  from  Old  Fr.  rempar,  a  verbal  noun 
from  remparer,  to  repair;  cf.  Ital.  riparo,  "a  rampire, 
a  fort,  a  banke"  (Florio).  By  analogy  with  Old  Fr. 
boulevart  {boulevard),  of  German  origin  and  identical 
with  our  bulwark}  rempar  became  rempart.  The  older 
English  form  occurs  in  the  obsolete  rampier  or  rampire, 
which  survive  in  the  dialect  ramper,  embankment, 
causeway.  For  the  spelling  rampire  we  may  compare 
umpire  (p.  113).  The  apple  called  2.  jenneting,  sometimes 
"  explained  "  as  for  June-eating,  was  once  spelt  geniton, 
no  doubt  for  Fr.  jeanneton,  a  diminutive  -©f  Jean.  It 
is  called  in  French  pomme  de  Saint- Jean,  and  in  German 
Johannisapfel,  because  ripe  about  St  John's  Day  (June  21). 

*  In  Old  French  confusion  sometimes  aro3e  with  regard  to  final  con- 
sonants, because  of  their  disappearance  in  the  plural  (see  p.  118,  «.).  In 
^erfaut,  gerfalcon,  for  Old  Fr.  g'.rfauc,  the  less  familiar  final  -c  was,  as  in 
boukvarl,  replaced  by  the  more  usual  -t. 


122  FOLK-ETYMOLOGY 

The  modern  form  is  due  to  such  apple  names  as  golding^ 
sweeting,  codlin,  pippin. 

In  the  records  of  medieval  London  we  frequently 
come  across  the  distinction  made  between  people  who 
lived  "  in  the  city,"  Anglo-Fr.  deinz  {dans)  la  ciU,  and 
"  outside  the  city,"  Anglo-Fr.  fors  {hors)  la  cite.  The 
former  were  called  deinzein,  whence  our  denizen,  and 
the  latter  forein}  The  Anglo-French  form  of  modern 
Fr.  citoyen  was  citein,  which  became  citizen  by  analogy 
with  denizen.  The  following  passage  from  a  medieval 
London  by-law  shows  how  rigid  was  the  division 
between  "denizen"  and  "foreign"  traders — 

"  Item,  qe  nulle  pulletere  deinzeyn  n'estoise  a  Carfeux  del 
Ledenhalle  deins  mesoun  ne  dehors,  ove  conilles,  volatilie,  n'autre 
pulletrie  pur  vendre  .  .  .  issint  qe  les  forreins  pulleters,  ove  lour 
pulletrie,  estoisent  par  eux  mesmes,  et  vendent  lour  pulletrie  sur 
le  cornere  de  Ledenhalle,  sanz  ceo  qe  ascuns  pulletere  deinzein 
viegne  ou  medle  en  vent  ou  en  achate  ove  eux,  ne  entre  eux."^ 
{Liber  Albus.)  \ 

Even  words  which  have  opposite  meanings  may 
affect  each  other  by  association.  Thus  Lat.  reddere,  to 
give  back,  became  Vulgar  Lat.  *rendere  by  analogy 
with  prendere  {prehendere),  to  take  away;  hence  Fr. 
rendre.      Our   word  grief,    from    Fr.  grief,   is   derived 

1  An  unoriginal  g  occurs  in  many  English  words  derived  from  French, 
e.g.,  foreign,  sovereign^  older  sovran,  sprightly  for  spritely,  i.e.,  sprite-like, 
delight,  from  Old  Fr.  delit,  to  Lat.  delectare, 

2  "Also,  that  no  'denizen'  poulterer  shall  stand  at  the  'Carfax'  of 
I.eadenhall  in  a  house  or  without,  with  rabbits,  fowls,  or  other  poultry  to 
sell  .  .  .  and  that  the  '  foreign '  poulterers,  with  their  poultry,  shall  stand 
by  themselves,  and  sell  their  poultry  at  the  corner  of  Leadenhall,  without 
any  'denizen'  poulterer  coming  or  meddling  in  sale  or  purchase  with 
them,  or  among  tham." 

The  word  car/ax,  once  the  usual  name  for  a  "  cross-way,"  now  survives 
only  at  Oxford.  It  is  a  plural,  from  Fr.  carre/our,  Vulgar  Lat.  *quadri- 
fur  cum  (for  y^^rca),  four-fork. 


TITMOUSE— PURIJEU  123 

from  a  Vulgar  Lat.  '^grevtSy  heavy  (for  grcivis)^  which 
is  due  to  l^visy  h'ght. 

The  plural  of  titmouse  is  now  usually  titmice ^  by 
analogy  with  mouse,  mice,  with  which  it  has  no  connec- 
tion. The  second  part  of  the  word  is  Anglo-Sax.  mase^ 
used  of  several  small  birds.  It  is  cognate  with  Ger. 
Meise,  titmouse,  and  Fr.  mesange,  "a  titmouse,  or 
tittling"  (Cotgrave).  Tit,  of  Norse  origin,  is  applied  to 
various  small  animals,  and  occurs  also  as  a  prefix  in 
titbit  or  tidbit.     Cf.  tomtit  (p.  37). 

The  Spanish  word  salva,  "a  taste,  a  salutation" 
(Percyvall),  was  used  of  the  pregustation  of  a  great 
man's  food  or  drink.  We  have  given  the  name  to  the 
tray  or  dish  from  which  the  "  assay  "  was  made,  but,  by 
analogy  with  platter,  trencher,  we  spell  it  salver.  In 
another  sense,  that  of  a  "  salutation  "  in  the  form  of  a 
volley  of  shot,  we  have  corrupted  it  into  salvo.  With 
the  use  of  Span,  salva  we  may  compare  that  of  Ital. 
credenza,  lit.  faith,  "  the  taste  or  assaie  of  a  princes 
meate  and  drinke  "  (Florio) ;  whence  Fr.  credence,  side- 
board, used  in  English  only  in  the  ecclesiastical  com- 
pound credence  table,  and  Ger.  credenzen,  to  pour  out. 

In  spoken  English  the  ending  -ew,  -ue,  of  French 
origin,  has  been  often  changed  to  -ee,  -ey.  Thus  pedigree 
was  formerly  pedigrew  (see  p.  77).  The  fencing  term 
veney — 

"  I  bruised  my  shin  the  other  day  with  playing  at  sword  and 
dagger  with  a  master  of  fence — three  veney s  for  a  dish  of  stewed 
prunes."    {Merry  Wives,  i.  i.) 

also  spelt  venew,  is  from  Fr.  venue,  "  a  venny  in  fencing  " 
(Cotgrave).  Carew  has  become  Carey  and  Beaulieu,  in 
Hampshire,  is  called  Bewley.  Under  the  influence  of 
these  double  forms  we  sometimes  get  the  opposite 
change,  Q.g.,  purlieu,  now  generally  used  of  the  outskirts 


124  FOLK-ETYMOLOGY 

of  a  town,  is  for  purley^  a  strip  of  disforested  woodland 
This  is  a  contraction  of  Anglo-Fr.  pour-alUe^  used  to 
translate  the  legal  Lat.  perambulatio^  a  going  through 
A  change  of  venue  ^  is  sometimes  made  when  it  seems 
likely  that  an  accused  person,  or  a  football  team,  wil 
not  get  justice  from  a  local  jury.  This  venue  is  in  law 
Latin  vicinetum^  neighbourhood,  which  gave  Anglo-Fr. 
visne^  and  this,  perhaps  by  confusion  with  the  venire 
facias^  or  jury  summons,  became  venew^  venue. 

In  the  preceding  examples  the  form  has  been  chiefly 
affected.  In  the  word  luncheon  both  form  and  meaning 
have  been  influenced  by  the  obsolete  nuncheon,  a  meal  at 
noon,  Mid.  Eng.  none-chenche^  for  ^none-sckenche,  noon 
draught,  from  Anglo-Sax.  scencan^  to  pour.  Drinking 
seems  to  have  been  regarded  as  more  important  than 
eating,  for  in  some  counties  we  find  this  nuncheon 
replaced  by  bever^  the  Anglo-French  infinitive  from  Lat 
bibere^  to  drink.  Lunch^  a  piece  or  hunk,  especially  o: 
bread,  also  used  in  the  sense  of  a  "snack"  {cf,  Scot 
"piece"),  was  extended  to  luncheon  by  analogy  with 
nuncheon,  which  it  has  now  replaced — 

"  So  munch  on,  crunch  on,  take  your  nuncheonyX 
Breakfast,  supper,  dinner,  lu?icheon" 

(Browning,  Pied  Piper  of  Hamelin.) 

The  term  folk-etymology  is  often  applied  in  a 
narrower  sense  to  the  corruption  of  words  through  i 
mistaken  idea  of  their  etymology  or  origin.  Tin 
tendency  of  the  uneducated  is  to  distort  an  unfamilia 
or  unintelligible  word  into  some  form  which  suggests 
a  meaning.     Some  cases  may  have  originated  in  a  kind 

^  This  word  is  getting  overworked,  e.g.^  "  The  Derbyshire  Golf  Club  Hnk 
were  yesterday  the  venue  of  a  72-hole  match"  {Nottingham  Guardian,  21st 
Nov.  191 1). 

2  Cf,  Ger.  schenken,  to  pour,  and  the  Tudor  word  skinker,  a  drawer, 
waiter  (l  Henry  IV,,  ii.  4). 


WRONG  ASSOCIATION  125 

of  heavy  jocularity,  as  in  sparrow-grass  for  asparagus 
or  sparagus  (see  p.  66),  or  Rogue  Riderhood's  Alfred 
David  for  affidavit — 

"Ms  that  your  name?*  asked  Light  wood.  'My  name?' 
returned  the  man.     *  No  ;  I  want  to  take  a  Alfred  David y^ 

{pur  Mutual  Friend,  Ch.  12.) 

In  others  there  has  been  a  wrong  association  of  ideas, 
e.g.y  the  primrose,  rosemary,  and  tuberose  have  none  of 
them  originally  any  connection  with  the  rose.  Primrose 
was  earlier  primerole,  an  Old  French  derivative  of  Latin 
primula;  rosemary,  French  romarin,  is  from  Lat.  ros 
marinus,  sea-dew;  tuberose  is  the  Latin  adjective 
tuberosus,  bulbous,  tuberous.  Or  attempts  are  made  at 
translation,  such  as  Sam  Weller's  Have  his  carcase  for 
flabeas  Corpus,  or  the  curious  names  which  country  folk 
''  give  to  such  complaints  as  bronchitis,  erysipelas,  etc. 
To  this  class  belongs  Private  Mulvaney's  perversion  of 
locomotor  ataxy — 

" '  They  call  ut  Locomotus  attacks  us^  he  sez,  *  bekaze,'  sez  he, 
'  it  attacks  us  like  a  locomotive.' "     {Love  o^  Women.) 

Our  language  is,  owing  to  our  borrowing  habits, 
particularly  rich  in  these  gems.  Examples  familiar  to 
everybody  are  crayfish  from  Fr.  ^crevisse,  gilly-flower 
from  Fr.  giroflie,  shame-faced  for  shamefast.  Other 
words  in  which  the  second  element  has  been  altered 
are  causeway,  earlier  causey,  from  the  Picard  form  of 
Fr.  chaussee,  Lat.  {via)  calciata,  i.e.,  made  with  lime, 
calx ;  penthouse,  for  pentice,  Fr.  appentis,  "the  penthouse 
of  a  house  '•  (Cotgrave),  a  derivative  of  Old  Fr.  appendre, 
to  hang  to.  Fr.  hangar,  a  shed,  now  introduced  into 
English  by  aviators  as  unnecessarily  2.?,  garage  by  motor- 
ists, probably  contains  the  same  idea  of  "  hanging." 

In  hiccough,  for  earlier  hickup,  an  onomatopoeic 
word,    the     spelling,    suggested     by    cough,    has    not 


126  FOLK-ETYMOLOGY 

affected  the  pronunciation.  Surcease  is  Fr.  sursi 
past  participle  of  surseoir,  "  to  surcease^  pawse,  intermitj 
leave  off,  give  over,  delay  or  stay  for  a  time,"  La 
supersedere.  Taffrail  has  been  confused  with  rail^  itj 
more  correct  form  being  tafferel,  from  Du.  iafereel 
diminutive  of  tafel^  picture,  from  Lat.  tabula.  It  meant 
originally  the  flat  part  of  the  stern  of  a  ship  ornamentec 
with  carvings  or  pictures.  This  is  called  tableau  ir 
nautical  French.  Fr.  coutelas^  an  augmentative  o 
Old  Fr.  coutel  {couteau\  knife,  gave  Eng.  cutlass^  whicJ 
has  no  more  etymological  connection  with  "cutting*' 
than  a  cutler^  Fr.  coutelier^  or  a  cutlet,  Fr.  cdtelette,  littk 
rib,  Lat.  costa.  Cutlas  was  popularly  corrupted  intc 
curtal-axCy  the  form  used  by  Rosalind — 

"  A  gallant  curtal-axe  upon  my  thigh, 
A  boar-spear  in  my  hand." 

{As  You  Like  It,  i.  3.) 

We  have  a  similar  corruption  in  pick-axe,  Mid.  Eng 
pikeysy  Old  Fr.  piquois,  picquois,  "  a  pickax  "  (Cotgrave) 
from  the  verb  piquer.  The  word  posthumous  hai 
changed  its  meaning  through  folk  -  etymology.  It 
represents  the  Latin  superlative  postumus,  latest  born 
By  association  with  humus,  ground,  earth,  it  came  to  be 
used  of  a  child  born,  or  a  work  published,  after  its 
author's  death,  a  meaning  which  the  derivatives  o 
postumus  have  in  all  the  Romance  languages. 

The  first  part  of  the  word   has   been   distorted   in 
pursy  ^  short-winded — 

"And/^/rjy  insolence  shall  break  his  wind 
With  fear  and  horrid  flight." 

{Thnon  of  Athens,  v.  5.) 

Fr.  poussif,  from  pousser,  to  push,  Lat.  pulsus,  throbbing, 
It  was  formerly  used  also  in  connection  with  horses — 

"You  must   warrant  this  horse   clear  of  the  glanders,   and 
pursyness"    {The  Gentleman's  Dictionary^  1705.) 


ARQUEBUS— JAUNTY  127 

Arquebus^  Fr.  arquebuse^  is  a  doublet  of  hackbut^  Old 
Fr.  haquebute,  "an  haquebut^  or  arquebuse ;  a  caliver" 
(Cotgrave).  The  corruption  is  due  to  arcus,  bow. 
Both  arquebus  and  hackbut  are  common  in  Scott — 

"His  arms  were  halbert,  axe,  or  spear, 
A  cross-bow  there,  a  hackbut  here, 
A  dagger-knife,  and  brand." 

{Marmton,  v.  3.) 

The  origin  is  Du.  haakbus^  hook-gun,  the  second 
element  of  which  appears  in  blunderbuss.  The  first 
part  of  this  word  has  undergone  so  many  popular 
transformations  that  it  is  difficult  to  say  which  was 
the  original  form.  Ludwig  has  Donner-biichs,  Blunder- 
buchSy  oder  Muszketon^  "  a  thunder-box  ;  a  blunder-buss  ; 
a  musketoon  ;  a  wide-mouthed  brass-gun,  carrying  about 
twenty  pistol  bullets  at  once."  It  was  also  called  in 
German  Plantier-bilchs^  from  plantieren,  to  plant,  set  up, 
because  fired  from  a  rest.  Du.  bus^  like  Ger.  Bikhse, 
means  both  "  box  "  and  "  gun."  In  the  bushes,  or  axle- 
boxes,  of  a  cart-wheel,  we  have  the  same  word.  The 
ultimate  origin  is  Greek  irv^o^,  the  box -tree,  whence 
also  the  learned  word  pyx.  Fr.  boite,  box,  is  cognate, 
and  Fr.  boussole,  mariners'  compass,  is  from  the  Italian 
diminutive  bossola,  "  a  boxe  that  mariners  keepe  their 
compasse  in.     Also  taken  for  the  compasse  "  (Florio). 

Scissors  were  formerly  cizars  {cf.  Fr.  ciseaux), 
connected  with  Lat.  ccedere,  to  cut.  The  modern 
spelling  is  due  to  association  with  Lat.  scissor,  a  cutter, 
tailor,  from  sczndere,  to  cut.  Runagate  is  well  known 
to  be  a  corrupt  doublet  of  renegade,  one  who  has 
"denied"  his  faith.  Recreant,  the  present  participle 
of  Old  Fr.  recreire.  Vulgar  Lat.  '^recredere,  to  change 
one's  faith,  contains  very  much  the  same  idea;  cf. 
miscreant,     lit.     unbeliever.      Jaunty,    spelt  janty    by 


128  FOLK-ETYMOLOGY 

Wycherley  and  genty  by  Burns,  is  Fr.  gentil^  wronglj 
brought  into  connection  y^\\.\\  jaunt. 

In  some  cases  of  folk-etymology  it  is  difficult  to  s( 
to  what  idea  the  corruption  is  due.^  The  mollusc  calle 
2^ periwinkle  was  in  hx^^o-'Syd.^on pinewincla^  which  sti 
survives  in  dialect  diS  penny  winkle.  It  appears  to  hav 
been  influenced  by  the  plant-name  periwinkle^  which 
itself  a  corruption  of  Mid.  Eng.  pervenke,  from  La 
pervinca ;  cf.  Fr.  pervenche.  The  material  call( 
lutestring  was  formerly  lustrings  Fr.  lustrine ^  from  il 
glossiness.  A  wiseacre  is  "  one  that  knows  or  tel 
truth ;  we  commonly  use  it  in  malam  partem  for 
fool"  (Blount,  Glossographia,  1674).  This  come 
through  Dutch,  from  Ger.  Weissager,  commonly  undei 
stood  as  wise-sayer^  but  really  unconnected  with  sage\ 
to  say.  The  Old  High  Ger.  wlzago^  prophet,  is  cognal 
with  Eng.  witty.  The  military  and  naval  word  ensig 
is  in  Shakespeare  corrupted,  in  both  its  meanings,  int 
ancient.  Thus  Falstaff  describes  his  tatterdemalia 
recruits  as — 

*'  Ten  times  more  dishonourable  ragged  than  an  old-faced  anciem 

(i  Henry  /F.,  iv.  2.) 

while  Ancient  Pistol  is  familiar  to  every  reader. 
cordwainer,  from  Old  Fr.  cordouanier,  "a  shoomakerj" 
a  cordwainer "  (Cotgrave),  worked  with  cordouan^  "  Cor- 
dovan leather ;  which  is  properly  a  goat's  skin  tanned." 
The  modern  French  form  cordonnier  is  due  to  associa- 
tion with  cordon,  a  thong,  bootlace,  etc.  Witch-elm 
has  nothing  to  do  with  witches.  It  is  for  older 
zveech-elm^  wiche-elm^  and  belongs  to  Anglo-Sax.  wlcan, 

*  Perhaps  it  is  the  mere  instinct  to  make  an  unfamiliar  word  "  look  hke 
something."  Thus  Fr.  beaupri^  from  Eng.  bowsprit^  cannot  conceivably 
have  been  associated  with  a  fair  meadow  ;  and  accomplice,  for  complice^  Lat. 
complex,  complic-y  can  hardly  have  been  confused  with  accomplish. 


"PREPOSTEROUS"  PERVERSIONS         129 

to  bend.  Service-tree  is  a  meaningless  corruption 
of  Mid.  Eng.  serves^  an  early  loan  word  from  Lat. 
sorbus. 

In  the  case  of  a  double-barrelled  word,  folk- 
etymology  usually  affects  one  half  only,  e.g.,  verdigris  is 
for  Fr.  vert-de-gris,  for  Old  Fr.  vert  de  Grece^  Greek 
green.  The  reason  for  the  name  is  unknown.  Cot- 
grave  calls  it  "  Spanish  green."  Mid.  English  had  the 
more  correct  vertegresse  and  verte  Grece  {Promptorium 
Parvulorunty  1440).  The  cavalry  trumpet-call  boot 
and  saddle  is  for  Fr.  boute-selle,  lit.  "put  saddle." 
Court  card  is  for  coat  card,  a  name  given  to  these 
cards  from  the  dresses  depicted  on  them.  Florio 
has  carta  di  figura,  "  a  cote  carde."  The  card  game 
called  Pope  Joan  would  appear  to  be  in  some  way 
corrupted  from  nain  jaune^  lit.  "yellow  dwarf,"  its 
French  name. 

But  occasionally  the  results  of  folk-etymology  are 
literally  preposterous}  The  Fr.  choucroute  is  from 
surkrut,  a  dialect  pronunciation  of  Ger.  Sauer-kraut, 
sour  cabbage,  so  that  the  first  syllable,  meaning  "  sour," 
has  actually  been  corrupted  so  as  to  mean  "  cabbage." 
Another  example,  which  I  have  never  seen  quoted, 
is  the  name  of  a  beech-wood  near  the  little  town 
of  Remilly  in  Lorraine.  The  trees  of  this  wood  are 
very  old  and  curiously  twisted,  and  they  are  called 
in  French  les  jolis  fouSy  where  fou  (Lat.  fagus)  is 
the  Old  French  for  "beech"  {fouet,  whip,  is  its 
diminutive).  This  is  rendered  in  German  as  tolle 
Buchen,  mad  beeches,  the  fou  having  been  misunder- 
stood as  referring  to  the  fantastic  appearance  of 
the  trees. 

Forlorn  hope  is  sometimes  used  metaphorically  as 
though  the  hope  were  of  the  kind  that  springs  eternal  in 

^  hdX.  prceposterus,  ixomprce,  before,  dnid  posterus,  behind. 

I 


130  FOLK-ETYMOLOGY 

the  human  breast.  In  military  language  it  now  means 
the  leaders  of  a  storming  party — 

"  The  forlorn  hope  of  each  attack  consisted  of  a  sergeant  an( 
twelve  Europeans."    {Wellington's  Despatches^  I799-) 

but  was  earlier  used  of  soldiers'  in  any  way  expose( 
to  special  danger.  Cotgrave  has  enfans perduSy "  perdus 
or  the  forlorne  hope  of  a  campe  (are  commonly  gentle 
men  of  companies)."  It  is  from  obsolete  Du.  verlore. 
hoopy  where  hoopy  cognate  with  Eng.  heapy  is  used  for  a 
band  or  company.  In  16th-century  German  we  fin 
ein  verlorener  Haufe.  Both  the  Dutch  and  Germar 
expressions  are  obsolete  in  this  sense. 

The  military  phrase  to  run  the  gauntlet  has  no  con 
nection  with  gauntlety  glove.    The  older  form  is  gantlope 

"  Some  said  he  ought  to  be  tied  neck  and  heels ;  others  tha 
he  deserved  to  run  the  gantlope,"    {Totn  Jones y  vii.  i.) 

It  is  a  punishment  of  Swedish  origin  from  the  perioc 
of  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  The  Swedish  form  is  gat 
loppy  in  which  gat  is  cognate  with  Eng.  gatey  in  it 
proper  sense  of  "  street,"  and  lopp  with  Eng.  leap  anc 
Ger.  laufen,  to  run. 

The  press-gang  had  originally  nothing  to  do  witl 
"pressing."  When  soldiers  or  seaman  were  engagec 
they  received  earnest  money  called  prest-money,  z.e.y  ar 
advance  on  "  loan,"  Old  Yx.prest  {pret)y  and  the  engage 
ment  was  called  presting  or  impresting.  Florio  explain 
soldato  (see  p.  154),  lit.  "paid,"  by  '' prest  with  paie  ai 
soldiers  are."  The  popular  corruption  to  press  tool 
place  naturally  as  the  method  of  enlistment  became 
more  "pressing." 

The  black  art  is  a  translation  of  Old  Fr.  nigromana 
"nigromancie,  conjuring,  the  black  art'^  (Cotgrave);  bu 
this  is  folk-etymology  for  necromantiCy  Greco-Lat.  necro 
mantiay  divination  by  means  of  the  dead.     The  popula 


CONTAMINATION  131 

form  n^gromancie  still  survives  in  French.  To  curry 
favour  is  a  corruption  of  Mid.  Eng.  "to  curry  favel!^ 
The  expression  is  translated  from  French.  Palsgrave  has 
curryfavell,  a  flatterer,  "  estrille  faveau,"  estriller  (Jtriller^ 
meaning  "to  curry  (a  horse)."  Faveau,  edirlier fauve/y  is 
the  name  of  a  horse  in  the  famous  Roman  de  Fauvel,  a 
satirical  Old  French  poem  of  the  early  14th  century.  He 
symbolises  worldly  vanity  carefully  tended  by  all  classes 
of  society.  The  name  is  a  diminutive  of  Yx.fauve,  tawny, 
cognate  with  ¥.r\g.  fallow  (deer).     (See  also  p.  192,  n.) 

A  very  curious  case  of  folk-etymology  is  seen  in  the 
old  superstition  of  the  hand  of  glory.  This  is  understood 
to  be  a  skeleton  hand  from  the  gallows  which  will  point 
out  hidden  treasure — 

"  Now  mount  who  list, 
And  close  by  the  wrist 
Sever  me  quickly  the  Dead  Man's  fist.* 

( I NGOLDSBY,  The  Hand  of  Glory. ) 

It  is  simply  a  translation  of  Fr.  main  de  gloire.  But  the 
French  expression  is  a  popular  corruption  of  mandragore, 
from  Lat.  mandragora,  the  mandragore,  or  mandrake,  to 
the  forked  roots  of  which  a  similar  virtue  was  attributed, 
especially  if  the  plant  were  obtained  from  the  foot  of 
the  gallows. 

Akin  to  folk-etymology  is  contamination,  i.e.^  the 
welding  of  two  words  into  one.  This  can  often  be 
noticed  in  children,  whose  linguistic  instincts  are  those 
of  primitive  races.  I  have  heard  a  child,  on  her  first 
visit  to  the  Zoo,  express  great  eagerness  to  see  the 
canimals  {camels  x  animals),  which,  by  the  way,  turned 
out  to  be  the  giraffes.  A  small  boy  who  learnt  English 
and  German  simultaneously  evolved,  at  the  age  of  two, 
the  word  spam  {sponge  x  Ger.  Schwamm).  In  a  college 
in  the  English  midlands,  a  student  named  Constantine, 
who  sat  next  to  a  student  named  Turpin^  once  heard 


132  FOLK-ETYMOLOGY 

himself  startlingly  addressed  by  a  lecturer  as  Turpentine. 
People  who  inhabit  the  frontier  of  two  languages,  and  in 
fact  all  who  are  in  any  degree  bilingual,  must  inevitably 
form  such  composites  occasionally.  The  h  aspirate  of 
Fr.  haut^  Lat.  altus^  high,  can  only  be  explained  by  the 
influence  of  Old  High  Ger.  hoh  {hoch).  The  poetic 
word  glaive  cannot  be  derived  from  Lat.  gladius^  sword, 
which  has  given  Fr.  glai^  an  archaic  name  for  the 
gladiolus.  We  must  invoke  the  help  of  a  Gaulish  word 
cladebo^  sword,  which  is  related  to  Gaelic  clay-more^  big 
sword.  It  has  been  said  that  in  this  word  the  swords 
of  Caesar  and  Vercingetorix  still  cross  each  other.  In 
Old  French  we  find  oreste,  a  storm,  combined  from  orage 
and  tenipeste  {tempete).  Fr.  orteil^  toe,  represents  the 
mixture  of  Lat.  articulus,  a  little  joint,  with  Gaulish 
ordag.  A  battledore  was  in  Mid.  English  a  washing 
beetle,  which  is  in  Provencal  batedor,  lit.  beater.  Hence 
it  seems  that  this  is  one  of  the  very  few  Provencal 
words  which  passed  directly  into  English  during  the 
period  of  our  occupation  of  Guienne.  It  has  been 
contaminated  by  the  cognate  beetle. 

Cannibal  is  from  Span,  canibal,  earlier  caribal^  i.e. 
Carib^  the  n  being  perhaps  due  to  contamination  with 
Span,  canino^  canine,  voracious.  It  can  hardly  be  doubted 
that  this  word  suggested  Shakespeare's  Caliban.  Seraglio 
is  due  to  confusion  between  the  Turkish  word  serai^  a 
palace, and  Ital.  serraglio^ "an  inclosure,  a  close,  a  padocke, 
a  parke,  a  cloister  or  secluse"  (Florio),  which  belongs 
to  Lat.  sera^  a  bolt  or  bar. 

Anecdotage  is  a  deliberate  coinage  ascribed  to  John 
Wilkes— 

"  When  a  man  fell  into  his  anecdotage,  it  was  a  sign  for  him  to 
retire  from  the  world."    (Disraeli,  Lothair^  Ch.  28.) 

In  some  cases  it   is  impossible    to  estimate    the 


ARBOUR— FRET  /  133 

different  elements  in  a  word.  Arbour  certainly  owes 
its  modern  spelling  to  Lat.  arbor^  a  tree,  but  it 
represents  also  Mid.  Eng.  herbere,  erbere^  which  comes, 
through  French,  from  Lat.  '^herbarium.  But  this  can 
only  mean  herb-garden,  so  that  the  sense  development 
of  the  word  must  have  been  affected  by  harbour ^ 
properly  "army-shelter,"  ultimately  identical  with  Fr. 
auberge  (p.  164).    When  Dryden  wrote — 

"  Tardy  of  aid,  unseal  thy  heavy  eyes, 
Awake,  and  with  the  dawning  day  arise." 

{The  Cock  and  the  Fox^  247.) 

he  was  expressing  a  composite  idea  made  up  from  the 
verb  seal^  Old  Fr.  seeler  {sceller)^  Lat.  stgillare,  and  seel^ 
Old  Fr.  Ciller^  Vulgar  Lat.  '^  ciliare^  from  cilium,  eye- 
brow. The  latter  verb,  meaning  to  sew  together  the 
eyelids  of  a  young  falcon,  was  once  a  common  word — 

"  Come,  seeling-  night. 
Scarf  up  the  tender  eye  of  pitiful  day." 

{Macbeth,  iii.  2.) 

The  v^rh  fret  is  AngloSdCK.  fretan,  to  eat  away  {cf,  Ger. 
fressen).  Fret  is  also  used  of  interlaced  bars  in  heraldry, 
in  which  sense  it  corresponds  to  Fr.  frette  with  the  same 
meaning;  for  this  word,  which  also  means  ferrule,  a 
Vulgar  Lat.  *ferritta  {ferruMy  iron)  has  been  suggested. 
When  Hamlet  speaks  of — 

"This  majestical  xooi fretted mih  golden  fire," 

{Hamlet,  ii.  3) 

is  he  thinking  oi  frets  in  heraldry,  or  of  fretwork,  or  are 
these  two  ot  one  origin?  Why  should  fret,  in  this 
sense,  not  come  from  fret,  to  eat  away,  since  fretivork 
may  be  described  as  the  "  eating  away  "  of  part  of  the 
material  ?  Cf.  etch,  which  comes,  through  Dutch,  from 
Ger.  dtzen,  the  factitive  of  essen,  to  eat.  But  the 
German  for  fretwork  is  durchbrochene  Arbeit,  "  broken- 

I  2 


134  FOLK-ETYMOLOGY 

through  "  work,  and  Old  Fr.  fret  or  ftait,  Lat.  fractiis^ 
means  "broken."  Who  shall  decide  how  much  our 
fretwork  owes  to  each  of  these  possible  etymons  ? 

That  form  of  taxation  called  excise,  which  dates 
from  the  time  of  Charles  I.,  has  always  been  unpopular. 
Andrew  Marvell  says  that  Excise — 

"  With  hundred  rows  of  teeth  the  shark  exceeds, 
And  on  all  trades  like  cassawar  she  feeds." 

Dr  Johnson  defines  it  as  "a  hateful  tax  levied  upon 
commodities,  and  adjudged  not  by  the  common  judges 
of  property,  but  wretches  hired  by  those  to  whom  excise 
is  paid,"  an  outburst  which  Lord  Mansfield  considered 
"  actionable."  The  name,  like  the  tax,  came  from  the 
Netherlands,  where  it  was  called  accijs — 

"'Twere  cheap  living  here,  were  it  not  for  the  monstrous  excises 
which  are  impos'd  upon  all  sorts  of  commodities,  both  for  belly 
and  back."    (Howell,  Letter  from  Amsterdam^  1619.) 

In  modern  Dutch  it  has  become  accijns^  through 
confusion  with  cifns,  tax  (Lat.  census  \  cf  Ger.  Zins^t 
interest).  But  the  Dutch  word  is  from  Fr.  accise^ 
which  appears  in  medieval  Latin  as  accisia^  as  though 
connected  with  "  cutting "  (cf.  tallage,  from  Fr.  tailler, 
to  cut),  or  with  the  "  incidence "  of  the  tax.  It  is 
perhaps  a  perversion  of  Ital.  assisa,  "  an  imposition, 
or  taxe,  or  assesment"  (Torriano) ;  but  there  is  also 
an  Old  Fr.  aceis  which  must  be  related  to  Latin  census. 
When  folk-etymology  and  contamination  work 
together,  the  result  is  sometimes  bewildering.  Thus 
equerry  represents  an  older  querry  or  quirry,  still  usual 
in  the  i8th  century.     Among  my  books  is — 

"The  Compleat  Horseman,  or  Perfect  Farrier,  written  in 
French  by  the  Sieur  de  SoUeysell,  Querry  to  the  Present  King 
of  France"  (1702). 

The  modern  spelling  is  due  to  popular  association  with 


PLEONASM  135 

Lat.  equus.  But  this  querry  is  identical  with  French 
icurie^  stable,  just  as  in  Scottish  \}i\Q  post  often  means  the 
postman.  And  hurie^  older  escurie,  is  from  Old  High  Ger. 
sciiira  {Scheuei\  barn).  The  word  used  in  modern  French 
in  the  sense  of  our  equerry  is  ecuyer^  older  escuier^  Lat. 
scutariuSy  shield-bearer,  whence  our  word  esquire.  This 
^cuyer  is  in  French  naturally  confused  with  ^curie^  so  that 
Cotgrave  defines  escuyrie  as  "  the  stable  of  a  prince,  or 
nobleman ;  also,  a  querry-^\Cv^  ;  or  the  duties,  or  offices 
belonging  thereto  ;  also  (in  old  authors)  a  squire's  place ; 
or,  the  dignity,  title,  estate  of  an  esquire."  And,  strangely 
enough,  the  words  are  ultimately  related,  for  both  Ger. 
Scheuer,  a  barn,  and  Lat.  scutum,  a  shield,  belong  to  an 
Indo-Germanic  root  containing  the  idea  of  "  shelter." 

Ignorance  of  the  true  meaning  of  a  word  often  leads 
to  pleonasm.  Thus  greyhound  means  hound-hound,  the 
first  syllable  representing  Icel.  grey,  a  dog.  Peajacket 
is  explanatory  of  Du.  pij,  earlier  pye,  "py-gown,  or 
rough  gown,  as  souldiers  and  seamen  wear  "  (Hexham). 
On  Greenhow  Hill  means  "on  green  hill  hill,"  and 
Buckhurst  Holt  Wood  means  "  beech  wood  wood  wood," 
an  explanatory  word  being  added  as  its  predecessor 
became  obsolete.  The  second  part  of  salt-cellar  is 
not  the  same  word  as  in  wine-cellar.  It  comes  from 
Fr.  saliere,  "a  salt-i'^//<?r "  (Cotgrave),  so  that  the 
salt  is  unnecessary.  We  speak  pleonastically  of  ^^dis- 
hevelled hair,"  while  Old  Fr.  descheveU,  lit.  dis-haired, 
now  replaced  by  ^cheveU,  can  only  be  applied  to  a 
person,  e.g.,  une  femme  toute  descheveUe,  "  discheveled, 
with  all  her  haire  disorderly  falling  about  her  eares  " 
(Cotgrave).  The  word  cheer  meant  in  Mid.  English 
"  face."  Its  French  original  chere  scarcely  survives 
except  in  the  phrase  faire  bonne  chere,  lit.  "  make 
a  good  face,"  a  meaning  preserved  in  "to  be  of 
good  cheerr     In  both  languages  the  meaning  has  been 


136  FOLK-ETYMOLOGY 

transferred  to  the  more  substantial  blessings  which  the 
pleasant  countenance  seems  to  promise,  and  also  to  the 
felicity  resulting  from  good  treatment  The  true 
meaning  of  the  word  is  so  lost  that  we  can  speak  of  a 
"  cheerful  faice"  i.e.,  a  face  full  of  face. 

But  there  are  many  words  whose  changes  of  form 
cannot  be  altogether  explained  by  any  of  the  influences 
that  have  been  discussed  in  this  and  the  preceding 
chapters.  Why  should  cervelas,  "a  large  kind  of 
sausage,  well  season'd,  and  eaten  cold  in  slices " 
(Kersey's  Eng.  Diet.,  1720),  now  be  saveloy?  We 
might  invoke  the  initial  letters  oi  sausage  to  account  for 
part  of  the  change,  but  the  oy  remains  a  mystery. 
Cervelas,  earlier  cervelat,  comes  through  French  from  Ital. 
cervellato,  "  a  kinde  of  dry  sausage  "  (Florio),  said  to  have 
been  originally  made  from  pig's  brains.  For  hatchment 
we  find  in  the  i6th  century  achement,  and  even  achieve- 
ment. It  is  archaic  Fr.  hachement,  the  ornamental  crest 
of  a  helmet,  etc.,  probably  derived  from  Old  Fr.  achemer, 
variant  oiacesmer,  to  adorn.  Hence  both  the  French  and 
English  forms  have  an  unexplained  h-,  the  earlier  ache- 
ment  being  nearer  the  original.  French  omelette  has  a  be- 
wildering history,  but  we  can  trace  it  almost  to  its  present 
form.  To  begin  with,  an  omelet,  in  spite  of  proverbs,  is 
not  necessarily  associated  with  eggs.  The  origin  is  to 
be  found  in  Lat.  lamella,  a  thin  plate,^  which  gave  Old 
Fr.  lamelle.  Then  la  lainelle  was  taken  as  Valamelle,  and 
the  new  ala^nelle  or  alemelle  became,  with  change  of 
suffix,   alemette.     By    metathesis  (see  p.  59)  this  gave 

1  We  have  a  parallel  in  Fr.  flan^  Eng.  flawn,  Ger.  Fladen^  etc.,  a  kind 
of  omelet,  ultimately  related  to  Eng.^at — 

"  The  feast  was  over,  the  board  was  clear'd, 
They^awns  and  the  custards  had  all  disappear'd. 

ilNGOLDSBY,  JacMaw  ofRheims.^ 
Cotgrave  hasyf<z«j,  "fiawnes,  custards,  eggepies  ;  also,  round  planchets,  or 
plates  of  metall." 


UNEXPLAINED  DISTORTIONS  137 

amelettey  still  in  dialect  use,  for  which  modern  French  has 
substituted  omelette.  The  o  then  remains  unexplained, 
unless  we  admit  the  influence  of  the  old  form  oeuf-mollet, 
a  product  of  folk-etymology. 

Counterpane  represents  Old  Fr.  coute-pointe^  now  cor- 
ruptly courte-pointe^  from  Lat.  culcita  puncta^  lit. 
"stitched  quilt";  cf,  Ger.  5/^//^^^/^^,  counterpane,  from 
steppeny  to  stitch.  In  Old  French  we  also  find  the  cor- 
rupt form  contrepointe  which  gave  Eng.  counterpoint — 

"In  ivory  coffers  I  have  stufT'd  my  crowns  ; 
In  cypress  chests  my  arras,  counterpoints ^ 
Costly  apparel,  tents  and  canopies." 

{T(^^ing  of  the  Shrew  ^  ii.  i). 

now  unaccountably  replaced  by  counterpane.  Mid. 
English  has  also  the  more  correct  form  quilt-pointy  from 
the  Old  Norman  cuilte  {pur^pointe^  which  occurs  in  a 
12th-century  poem  on  St  Thomas  of  Canterbury.  The 
hooped  petticoat  called  a  farthingale  was  spelt  by 
Shakespeare  fardingale  and  by  Cotgrave  vardingalL 
This  is  Old  Fr.  verdugalle^  of  Spanish  origin  and 
derived  from  Span,  verdugo,  a  (green)  wand,  because  the 
circumference  was  stiffened  with  flexible  switches  before 
the  application  of  whalebone  or  steel  to  this  purpose. 
The  crinoline^  as  its  name  implies,  was  originally 
strengthened  with  horse-hair,  Lat.  crinisy  hair.  To 
return  to  XhQ  farthingale^  the  insertion  of  an  n  before  g 
is  common  in  English  (see  p.  84,  n.  2),  but  the  change 
of  the  initial  consonant  is  baffling.  The  modern  Fr. 
vertugadin  is  also  a  corrupt  form.  Isinglass  seems 
to  be  an  arbitrary  perversion  of  obsolete  Du.  huyzen- 
bias  (huisblad)^  sturgeon  bladder ;  cf,  the  cognate  Ger. 
Hausenblase. 

Few  words  have  suffered  so  many  distortions  as 
liquorice.      The     original     is     Greco-Lat.    glycyrrhiza^ 


138  FOLK-ETYMOLOGY 

lit.  "  sweet  root,"  corrupted  into  Lat.  liquiritia^  whence 
Fr.  reglisse^  Ital.  legorizta^  regolizia^  and  Ger.  Lakritze, 
The  Mid.  Engh'sh  form  licoris  would  appear  to  have 
been  influenced  by  orris ^  a  plant  which  also  has  a 
sweet  root,  while  the  modern  spelling  is  perhaps  due 
to  liquor* 


CHAPTER   X 

DOUBLETS 

The  largest  class  of  doublets  is  formed  by  those  words 
of  Latin  origin  which  have  been  introduced  into  the 
language  in  two  forms,  the  popular  form  through  Anglo- 
Saxon  or  Old  French,  and  the  learned  through  modern 
French  or  directly  from  Latin.  Obvious  examples  are 
caitiffs  captive;  chieftain^  captain ;  fraily  fragile,  Lat. 
discus^  a  plate,  quoit,  gave  Anglo-Sax.  disc^  whence 
Eng.  dish.  In  Old  French  it  became  deis  (dais),  Eng. 
dais,  and  in  Ital.  desco,  "a  deske,  a  table,  a  boord,  a 
counting  boord"  (Florio),  whence  our  desk.  We  have 
also  the  learned  disc  or  disk,  so  that  the  one  Latin 
word  has  supplied  us  with  four  vocables,  differentiated 
in  meaning,  but  each  having  the  fundamental  sense 
of  a  flat  surface. 

Dainty,  from  Old  Fr.  deintii,  is  a  doublet  of  dignity. 
Ague  is  properly  an  adjective  equivalent  to  acute,  as  in 
Fr.  fievre  aigue.  The  paladins  were  the  twelve  peers  of 
Charlemagne's  palace,  and  a  Count  Palatine  is  a  later 
name  for  something  of  the  same  kind.  One  of  the 
most  famous  bearers  of  the  title,  Prince  Rupert,  is 
usually  called  in  contemporary  records  the  Palsgrave^ 
from  Ger.  Pfalzgraf,  lit.  palace  count,  Ger.  Pfalz  being 
a  very  early  loan  from  Lat.  palatium.  Trivet,  Lat.  tripes, 
triped-y  dates  back  to  Anglo-Saxon,  though  no  one  has 

180 


140  DOUBLETS 

satisfactorily  explained  why  it  should  be  taken  as  an 
emblem  of  "  Tightness."  In  the  learned  doublets  tripod 
and  tripos  we  have  the  Greek  form.  Spice,  Old  Fr. 
espice  (Jpice),  is  a  doublet  of  species.  The  medieval 
merchants  recognised  four  "  kinds  "  of  spice,  viz.,  saffron, 
cloves,  cinnamon,  nutmegs. 

Coffin  is  the  learned  doublet  of  cofer,  Fr.  coffre,  from 
Lat.  cophinus.  It  was  originally  used  of  a  basket  or 
case  of  any  kind,  and  even  of  a  pie-crust — 

"  Why,  thou  say'st  true  ;  it  is  a  paltry  cap ; 
A  custard-^^^w,  a  bauble,  a  silken  pie." 

{Taming  of  the  Shrew,  iv.  3.) 

Its  present  meaning  is  an  attempt  at  avoiding  the 
mention  of  the  inevitable,  a  natural  human  weakness 
which  has  popularised  in  America  the  horrible  word 
casket  in  this  sense.  The  Greeks,  fearing  death  less  than 
do  the  moderns,  called  a  coffin  plainly  (TapKo<l>ayo<i,  flesh- 
eater,  whence  indirectly  Fr.  cercueil  and  Ger.  Sarg. 

The  homely  mangle, -^^Cioh  comes  to  us  from  Dutch, 
is  a  doublet  of  the  warlike  engine  called  a  mangonel — 

"  You  may  win  the  wall  in  spite  both  of  bow  and  mangonel." 

{Ivanhoe,  Ch.  27.) 

which  is  Old  French.  The  source  is  Greco-Lat. 
manganum,  apparatus,  whence  Ital.  mangano,  with  both 
meanings.  The  verb  mangle,  to  mutilate,  is  unrelated. 
Sullen,  earlier  soleyn,  is  a  popular  doublet  of  solemn^ 
in  its  secondary  meaning  of  glum  or  morose.  In  the 
early  Latin  -  English  dictionaries  solemn,  soleyn,  and 
sullen  are  used  indifferently  to  explain  such  words  as 
acerbus^  agelastus,  vultuosus.  Shakespeare  speaks  of 
"  customary  suits  of  solemn  black "  {Ha^nlet,  i.  2),  but 
makes  Bolingbroke  say — 

"  Come,  mourn  with  me  for  that  I  do  lament, 
And  put  on  sullett  black  incontinent." 

{Richard n,^y.  6.) 


SULLEN— MONEY  141 

while  the  " solemn  curfew  "  {Tempest,  v.  i)  is  described  by 
Milton  as  "swinging  slow  with  sullen  roar"  {Penseroso^ 
1.  76).  The  meaning  of  antic ^  a  doublet  of  antique^  has 
changed  considerably,  but  the  process  is  easy  to  follow. 
From  meaning  simply  ancient  it  acquired  the  sense  of 
quaint  or  odd,  and  was  applied  to  grotesque  ^  work  in 
art  or  to  a  fantastic  disguise.  Then  it  came  to  mean 
buffoon,  in  which  sense  Shakespeare  applies  it  to  grim 
death — 

"  For  within  the  hollow  crown 
That  rounds  the  mortal  temples  of  a  king, 
Keeps  death  his  court ;  and  there  the  antic  sits, 
Scoffing  his  state,  and  grinning  at  his  pomp." 

{Richard  11.^  iii.  2.) 

and  lastly  the  meaning  was  transferred  to  the 
capers  of  the  buffoon.  From  Old  High  Ger.  faltan 
{falten),  to  fold,  and  stuol  {Stuhl),  chair,  we  get  Fr, 
fauteuil  Medieval  Latin  constructed  the  compound 
faldestoliuni,  whence  our  ecclesiastical  faldstool,  a  litany 
desk.  Revel  is  from  Old  Fr.  reveler,  Lat.  rebellare,  so 
that  it  is  a  doublet  of  rebel  Holyoak's  Latin  Dictionary 
(161 2)  has  revells  or  routs, "  concursus  populi  illegitimus." 
Its  sense  development,  from  a  riotous  concourse  to  a 
festive  gathering,  has  perhaps  been  affected  by  Fr. 
riveillery  to  wake,  whence  reveillon,  a  Christmas  Eve 
supper,  or  "  wake."  Cf.  Ital.  vegghia,  "  a  watch,  a  wake, 
a  revelling  a  nights  "  (Florio). 

The  very  important  word  money  has  acquired  its 
meaning  by  one  of  those  accidents  which  are  so  common 
in  word-history.  The  Roman  mint  was  attached  to  the 
temple  of  Juno  Moneta,  i.e.,  the  admonisher,  from  monerCy 
and  this  name  was  transferred  to  the  building.  The 
Romans    introduced   moneta^   in    the    course  of   their 

1  I.e.,  grotto  painting,  Ital.  grottesca,  "a  kinde  of  rugged  unpolished 
painters  worke,  anticke  worke  "  (Florio). 


142  DOUBLETS 

conquests,  into  French  {monnaie)^  German  {Munze)^  and 
English  iimnt).  The  French  and  German  words  still 
have  three  meanings,  viz.,  mint,  coin,  change.  We  have 
borrowed  the  French  word  and  given  it  the  general 
sense  represented  in  French  by  argent,  lit.  silver.  The 
Ger.  Geld,  money,  has  no  connection  with  gold,  but  is 
cognate  with  Eng.  yield,  as  in  "  the  yield  of  an  invest- 
ment," of  which  we  preserve  the  old  form  in  wergild, 
payment  for  having  killed  a  man  (Anglo-Sax.  wer).  To 
return  to  moneta,  we  have  a  third  form  of  the  word 
in  moidore — 

"And  fair  rose-nobles  and  broad  moidores 
The  waiter  pulls  out  of  their  pockets  by  scores." 

(INGOLDSBY,  The  Hand  oj  Glory.) 

from  Port,  moeda  de  ouro,  money  of  gold. 

Sometimes  the  same  word  reaches  us  through 
different  languages.  Thus  charge  is  French  and  cargo 
is  Spanish,  both  belonging  to  a  Vulgar  Lat.  ^carricare, 
from  carrus,  vehicle.  In  old  commercial  records  we  often 
find  the  Anglo-Norman  form  cark,  a  load,  burden,  which 
survives  now  only  in  a  metaphorical  sense,  e.g.  carkingy 
i.e.  burdensome,  care.  Lat.  domina  has  given  us  through 
French  both  dame  and  dam}  and  through  Spanish 
duenna;  while  Ital.  donna  occurs  in  the  compound 
madonna  and  the  donah  of  the  East  End  costermonger. 
Lat  datum,  given,  becomes  Fr.  di  and  Eng.  die 
(plural  dice).  Its  Italian  doublet  is  dado,  now  used  in 
English  of  a  pattern  which  was  originally  cubical. 
Scrimmage  and  skirmish  are  variant  spellings  of  Fr. 
escarmouche,  from  Ital.  scaramuccia,  of  German  origin 
(see  p.  64,  ^.).  But  we  have  also,  more  immediately  from 
Italian,  the   form   scaramouch.     Blount's    Glossographia 

*  See  p.  120.    The  aristocracy  of  the  horse  is  still  testified  to  by  the  use 
of  sire  and  dam  for  his  parents. 


FROM  FRENCH  DIALECTS  143 

(1674)  mentions  Scaramoche^  "a  famous  Italian  Zani 
(see  p.  45),  or  mimick,  who  acted  here  in  England, 
1673."  ScarajHOUch  was  one  of  the  stock  characters  of 
the  old  Italian  comedy,  which  still  exists  as  the 
harlequinade  of  the  Christmas  pantomime,  and  of  which 
some  traces  survive  in  the  Punch  and  Judy  show.  He 
was  represented  as  a  cowardly  braggart  dressed  in  black. 
The  golfer's  stance  is  a  doublet  of  the  poet's  stanza, 
both  of  them  belonging  to  Lat.  stare,  to  stand.  Stance 
is  Old  French  and  stanza  is  Italian,  "  a  stance  or  staffe 
of  verses  or  songs  "  (Florio).  A  stanza  is  then  properly 
a  pause  or  resting  place,  just  as  a  verse,  Lat.  versus,  is  a 
"  turning  "  to  the  beginning  of  the  next  line. 

Different  French  dialects  have  supplied  us  with  many 
doublets.  Old  F'r.  chacier  (chasser),  Vulgar  Lat.  *captiare, 
for  captare,  a  frequentative  of  capere,  to  take,  was  in 
Picard  cachier.  This  has  given  Eng.  catch,  which  is 
thus  a  doublet  of  chase.  In  cater  (see  p.  63)  we  have 
the  Picard  form  of  Fr.  acheter,  but  the  true  French 
form  survives  in  the  family  name  Chater}  In  late 
Latin  the  neuter  adjective  capitate,  capital,  was  used 
of  property.  This  has  given,  through  Old  Fr.  chatel, 
our  chattel,  while  the  doublet  catel  has  given  cattle, 
now  limited  to  what  was  once  the  most  important 
form  of  property.  Fr.  cheptel  is  still  used  of  cattle 
farmed  out  on  a  kind  of  profit-sharing  system.  This 
restriction  of  the  meaning  of  cattle  is  paralleled  by  Scot. 
avers,  farm  beasts,  from  Old  Fr.  aver'^  {avoir),  property, 
goods.  The  history  of  the  word  fee,  Anglo-Sax.  feoh, 
cattle,  cognate  with  Lat.  pecus,  whence  pecunia,  money, 
also  takes  us  back  to  the  times  when  a  man's  wealth  was 
estimated  by  his  flocks  and  herds ;  but,  in  this  case,  the 
sense  development  is  exactly  reversed. 

1  Sometimes  this  name  is  for  cheater,  escheatour  (p.  84). 

'  Cf.  avoirdupois,  earlier  avers  de  pais  {poids'),  goods  sold  by  weight. 


144  DOUBLETS 

Fr.  jumeau^  twin,  was  earlier  gemeau,  still  used  by 
Corneille,  and  earlier  ?>\\VLgemel,  l^dX.  gemellus,  diminutive 
of  geminus,  twin.  From  one  form  we  have  the  gimbals 
or  twin  pivots,  which  keep  the  compass  horizontal 
Shakespeare  uses  it  of  clockwork — 

"  I  think,  by  some  odd  ^m»^«/j,  or  device, 
Their  arms  are  set  like  clocks,  still  to  strike  on." 

(I  Henry  VL,  i.  2.) 

and  also  speaks  of  a  gimmal  bit  {Henry  F.,  iv.  2).  In 
the  17th  century  we  find  numerous  allusions  to  gimmai 
rings  (variously  spelt).  The  toothsome  jumble,  known 
to  the  Midlands  as  "brandy-snap,"  is  the  same  wordj 
this  delicacy  having  apparently  at  one  time  been  made 
in  links.  We  may  compare  the  obsolete  Ital.  stortelli^ 
lit.  "  little  twists,"  explained  by  Torriano  as  "  winding 
simnels, 'Wreathed  jumbals^ 

An  accident  of  spelling  may  disguise  the  origin  and 
meaning  of  a  word.  Tret  is  Fr.  trait,  in  Old  French  als 
tret^  Lat.  tractus,  pull  (of  the  scale).  It  was  usually  an 
allowance  of  four  pounds  in  a  hundred  and  four,  which 
was  supposed  to  be  equal  to  the  sum  of  the  "turns 
of  the  scale,"  which  would  be  in  the  purchaser's  favour 
if  the  goods  were  weighed  in  small  quantities.  Trait 
is  still  so  used  in  modern  French. 

A  difference  in  spelling,  origifialTy  accidental,  but  per 
petuated  by  an  apparent  difference  of  meaning,  is  seen 
in  flour,  flower ;  metal,  mettle.  Flour  is  the  flower,  i.e. 
the  finest  part,  of  meal,  Fr.  fleur  de  farine,  ''^flower,  or 
the  finest  meale"  (Cotgrave).  In  the  Nottingham 
Guardian  (29th  Aug.  191 1)  I  read  that — 

"Mrs  Kernahan  is  among  the  increasing  number  of  persons 
who  do  not  discriminate  between  mital  and  mettle,  and  writes 
*  Margaret  was  on  her  metalJ" 


METTLE-GLAMOUR  145 

It  might  be  added  that  this  author  is  in  the  excellent 
company  of  Shakespeare — 

"  See  whe'r  their  basest  metal  be  not  mov'd." 

{Julius  Casar,  i.  i.) 

There  is  no  more  etymological  difference  between  metal 
and  mettle  than  between  the  "  temper "  of  a  cook  and 
that  of  a  sword-blade. 

Parson  is  a  doublet  of  person^  the  priest  perhaps 
being  taken  as  "representing"  the  Church,  for  Lat. 
persona^  an  actor's  mask,  from  per^  through,  and  sonare^ 
to  sound,  was  also  used  of  a  costumed  character  or 
dramatis  persona.  Mask^  which  ultimately  belongs  to 
an  Arabic  word  meaning  buffoon,  has  had  a  sense 
development  exactly  opposite  to  that  of  person^  its 
modern  meaning  corresponding  to  the  Lat.  persona 
from  which  the  latter  started.  Parson  shows  the 
popular  pronunciation  oier^  now  modified  by  the  influence 
of  traditional  spelling.  We  still  have  it  in  Berkeley^ 
clerk}  Derby^  sergeant,  as  we  formerly  did  in  merchant. 
Proper  names,  in  which  the  orthography  depends  on 
the  "taste  and  fancy  of  the  speller,"  or  the  phonetic 
theories  of  the  old  parish  clerk,  are  often  more  in 
accordance  with  the  pronunciation,  e.g.,  Barclay,  Clark, 
Darby,  Sargent,  Marchant.  Posy,  in  both  its  senses,  is 
a  contraction  of  poesy,  the  flowers  of  a  nosegay  express- 
ing by  their  arrangement  a  sentiment  like  that  engraved 
on  a  ring.     The  latter  use  is  perhaps  obsolete — 

"  A  hoop  of  gold,  a  paltry  ring 
That  she  did  give  me  ;  whose  posy  was 
For  all  the  world  like  cutler's  poetry 
Upon  a  knife  :  '  Love  me  and  leave  me  not.' " 

{Merchant  of  Venice,  v.  i.) 

The  poetic  word  glamour  is  the  same  as  grammar, 

^  Pronounced    chirk    by    uneducated    English    people    and    educated 
Americans. 

K 


146  DOUBLETS 

which  had  in  the  Middle  Ages  the  sense  of  mysterious 
learning.  From  the  same  source  we  have  the  French 
corruption  ^f/;;^^zV^,  "a  booke  of  conjuring"  (Cotgrave). 
Glamour  and  gramarye  were  both  revived  by  Scott — 

"  A  moment  then  the  volume  spread, 
And  one  short  spell  therein  he  read  j 
It  had  much  of  glamour  might." 

{Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel^  iii.  9.) 

"And  how  he  sought  her  castle  high, 
That  morn,  by  help  oi  gramarye. ^^ 

{Idid.j  V.  27.) 

For  the  change  of  r  to  /  we  have  the  parallel  of  flounce 
for  older  frounce  (p.  60).  Quire  is  the  same  word 
as  quair^  in  the  "  King's  Quairl'  i.e.  book.  Its  Mid. 
English  form  is  quayer^  Old  Fr.  quaer,  caer  {cahier\ 
Vulgar  Lat.  * quaternum^iox  quaternio^  "  a  quier  with  foure 
sheetes"  (Cooper). 

Oriental  words  have  sometimes  come  into  the 
language  by  very  diverse  routes.  Sirups  or  syrupy 
skerbety  and  (rum)-shrub  are  of  identical  origin,  ulti- 
mately Arabic.  Sirup,  which  comes  through  Spanish 
and  French,  was  once  used,  like  treacle  (p.  75),  of 
medicinal  compounds — 

"  Not  poppy,  nor  mandragora, 
Nor  all  the  drowsy  syrups  of  the  world, 
Shall  ever  medicine  thee  to  that  sweet  sleep 
Which  thou  ow'dst  yesterday." 

{Othello,  iii.  3.) 

Sherbet  and  shrub  are  directly  borrowed  through  the 
medium  of  travellers — 

"  *  I  smoke  on  srub  and  water,  myself,'  said  Mr  Omer." 

{David  Copperfield,  Ch.  30.) 

Sepoy,  used  of  Indian  soldiers  in  the  English  service,  is 
the  same  as  spahi,  the  French  name  for  the  Algerian 


EASTERN  DOUBLETS  147 

cavalry.  Both  come  ultimately  from  a  Persian  adjective 
meaning  "  military,"  and  the  French  form  was  at  one 
time  used  also  in  English  in  speaking  of  Oriental 
soldiery — 

"The  Janizaries  and  Spahies  came  in  a  tumultuary  manner  to 
the  Seraglio,"    (Howell,  Familiar  Letters^  1623.) 

Tulip  is  from  Fr.  tulipe^  formerly  tulzpan,  "  the  delicate 
flower  called  a  tulzpa,  ttdipie,  or  Dalmatian  cap" 
(Cotgrave).  It  is  a  doublet  of  turban.  The  German 
Tulpe  was  also  earlier  Tulzpan. 

The  humblest  of  medieval  coins  was  the  maravediy 
which  came  from  Spain  at  an  early  date,  though  not 
early  enough  for  Robin  Hood  to  have  said  to  Isaac  of 
York— 

"  I  will  strip  thee  of  every  maravedi  thou  hast  in  the  world." 

{Ivanhoe^  Ch.  33.) 

The  name  is  due  to  the  Moorish  dynasty  of  the  Al- 
maravides  or  Marabouts.  This  Arabic  name,  which 
means  hermit,  was  given  also  to  a  kind  of  stork,  the 
marabout^  on  account  of  the  solitary  and  sober  habits 
which  have  earned  for  him  in  India  the  name  adjutant 

(P-  34). 

Cipher  and  zero  do  not  look  like  doublets,  but  both 
of  them  come  from  the  same  Arabic  word.  The 
medieval  Lat  zephyrum  connects  the  two  forms. 
Crimson  and  carmine^  the  first  French  and  the  second 
Spanish,  are  not  quite  doublets,  but  both  belong  to 
kernzes^  the  cochineal  insect,  of  Arabic  origin. 

The  relationship  between  cipher  and  zero  is  perhaps 
better  disguised  than  that  between  furnish  and  veneer^ 
though  this  is  by  no  means  obvious.  Veneer,  spelt 
fineer  by  Smollett,  is  G^r./ournieren^  borrowed  from  Fr. 


148  DOUBLETS 

fournir^  and  specialised  in  meaning.  Ebers'  German, 
Diet.  (1796)  hdiS  furnieren,  "to  inlay  with  several  sorts 
of  wood,  to  veneer^ 

The  doublets  selected  for  discussion  among  the 
hundreds  which  exist  in  the  language  reveal  many 
etymological  relationships  which  would  hardly  be 
suspected  at  first  sight.  Many  other  words  might  be 
quoted  which  are  almost  doublets.  Thus  sergeant, 
Fr.  sergent,  Lat.  serviens,  servient-,  is  almost  a  doublet  of 
servant,  the  present  participle  of  Fr.  servir.  The  fabric 
called  drill  or  drilling  is  from  Ger.  Drillich,  "tick, 
linnen-cloth  woven  of  three  threads"  (Ludwig).  This 
is  an  adaptation  of  Lat.  trilix,  trilic-,  which,  through 
Fr.  treillis,  has  given  Eng.  trellis.  We  may  compare 
the  older  twill,  of  Anglo-Saxon  origin,  cognate  with 
Ger.  Zwilch  or  Zwillich,  "  linnen  woven  with  a  double 
thread  "  (Ludwig).  Robe,  from  French,  is  cognate  with 
rob,  and  with  Ger.  Raub,  booty,  the  conqueror  decking 
himself  in  the  spoils  of  the  conquered.  Musk  is  a 
doublet  of  meg  in  nutmeg,  Fr.  noix  muscade.  In  Mid. 
English  we  find  note-7nugge,  and  Cotgrave  has  the 
diminutive  muguette,  "a  nutmeg";  cf.  modern  Fr. 
muguet,  the  lily  of  the  valley.  Fr.  diner  and  dejeuner. 
both  represent  Vulgar  Lat  *dis-junare,  to  break  fast, 
ixomjejunus,  fasting.  The  difference  of  form  is  due  to 
the  shifting  of  the  accent  in  the  Latin  conjugation,  e.g., 
dis-jundre  gives  Old  Fr.  disner  {diner),  while  dis-jiknat 
gives  Old  Fr.  desjune  {dejeune). 

Admiral,  earlier  amiral,  comes  through  French  from 
the  Arab,  amir,  an  emir.  Its  Old  French  forms  are 
numerous,  and  the  one  which  has  survived  in  English 
may  be  taken  as  an  abbreviation  of  Arab,  amir  al  bahr, 
emir  on  the  sea.    Greco-Lat.  pandura,  a  stringed  instru- 

^  Our  verbs  in  -ish  are  from  the  -iss-  stem  of  French  verbs  in  -ir.    This 
-iss-,  as  vafcurnissant,  represents  the  -isc  of  Latin  inchoative  verbs. 


BANJO—SAMITE  149 

ment,  has  produced  an  extraordinary  number  of  cor- 
ruptions, among  which  some  philologists  rank  mandoline. 
Eng.  bandore^  now  obsolete,  was  once  a  fairly  common 
word,  and  from  it,  or  from  some  cognate  Romance  form, 
comes  the  negro  corruption  banjo — 

" '  What  is  this,  mamma  ?  it  is  not  a  guitar,  is  it  ? '  *  No,  my 
dear,  it  is  called  a  banjore ;  it  is  an  African  instrument,  of  which 
the  negroes  are  particularly  fond.' "  (MiSS  Edgeworth,  Belinda^ 
Ch.  i8.) 

Florio  has  pandora^  pandura^  "a  musical  instrument 
with  three  strings,  a  kit,  a  croude,^  a  rebecke."  Kit, 
used  by  Dickens — 

"  He  had  a  little  fiddle,  which  at  school  we  used  to  call  a  kit^ 
under  his  left  arm."    {Bleak  House,  Ch.  14.) 

seems  to  be  a  clipped  form  from  Old  French  dialect 
quiterne,  for  guiterne,  Greco  -  Lat.  cithara.  Cotgrave 
explains  mandore  as  a  "/^//^,  small  gitterne."  The 
doublet  guitar  is  from  Spanish. 

The  two  pretty  words  dimity  and  samite — 

"An  arm 
Rose  up  from  out  the  bosom  of  the  lake. 
Clothed  in  white  saniiie,  mystic,  wonderful, 
Holding  the  sword." 

(Tennyson,  Morte  cP Arthur,  1.  29.) 

are  both  connected  with  Gk.  /uLirog,  thread.  Dimity  is 
the  plural,  dimiti,  of  Ital.  dimito,  "  a  kind  of  course  cotton 
or  flanell"  (Florio),  from  Greco-Lat.  dimitus,  double 
thread  (cf  twill,  p.  148).  Samite,  Old  Fr.  samit,  whence 
Ger.  Sa7nt,  velvet,  is  in  medieval  Latin  hexamitus, 
six-thread  ;  but  this  may  be  a  popular  corruption  of  an 
Arabic  original.  The  Italian  form  is  sciamito,'^  d.V\XiA 
of  sleave,  feret,  or  filosello  silke"  (Florio).  The  word 
feret  used   here   by  Florio   is  from    Ital.  fioretto,  little 

.  *  See  Crowther,  p.  176, 

K2 


150  DOUBLETS 

flower.  It  was  also  called  floret  silk.  Florio  explains 
the  plural  fioretti  as  "a  kind  of  course  silke  called 
/{lloret  ox  ferret  silke,"  and  Cotgrave  hdiSjleuret,  "  course 
silke,  floret  silke."  This  doublet  of  floweret  is  not 
obsolete  in  the  sense  of  tape — 

"'Twas  so  fram'd  and  express'd  no  tribunal  could  shake  it, 
And  firm  as  red  wax  and  h\z.Qk  ferret  could  make  it." 

(Ingoldsby,  The  Housewarming.) 

Parish  and  diocese  are  closely  related,  parish^  Fr. 
paroisse^  representing  Greco-Lat.  par-oikia  (oTkos,  a 
house),  and  diocese  coming  through  Old  French  from 
Greco-Lat.  di-oikesis.  Skirt  is.  the  Scandinavian  doublet 
of  shirty  from  Vulgar  Lat.  ex-curtus^  which  has  also  given 
us  short.  The  form  without  the  prefix  appears  in  Fr. 
courty  Ger.  kurz^  and  the  English  diminutive  kirtle — 

"  What  stuff  wilt  have  a  kirtle  of?" 

(2  Henry  /F.,  ii.  4.) 

These  are  all  very  early  loan  words. 

A  new  drawing-room  game  for  amateur  philologists 
would  be  to  trace  relationships  between  words  which 
have  no  apparent  connection.  In  discussing,  a  few 
years  ago,  a  lurid  book  on  the  "  Mysteries  of  Modern 
London,"  Punch  remarked  that  the  existence  of  a  villa 
seemed  to  be  proof  presumptive  of  that  of  a  villain. 
This  is  etymologically  true.  An  Old  French  vilain^  "  a 
villaine,  slave,  bondman,  servile  tenant "  (Cotgrave),  was 
a  peasant  attached  to  his  lord's  ville  or  domain,  Lat. 
villa.  For  the  degeneration  in  meaning  we  may  com- 
pare Eng.  door  and  churl  (p.  84),  and  Fr.  manant,  a 
clodhopper,  lit.  a  dweller  (see  manor,  p.  9).  A  butcher, 
Fr.  boucher,  must  originally  have  dealt  in  goat's  flesh, 
Fr.  bouc,  goat ;  cf  Ital.  beccaio,  butcher,  and  becco,  goat. 
Hence  butcher  and  buck  are  related.  The  extension  of 
meaning  of  broker,  an  Anglo-Norman  form  of  brocheur^ 


BROKER— WALNUT  151 

shows  the  importance  of  the  wine  trade  in  the  Middle 
Ages.  A  broker  was  at  first  ^  one  who  "  broached  "  casks 
with  a  brocJie,  which  means  in  modern  French  both  brooch 
and  spit.  The  essential  part  of  a  brooch  is  the  pin  or  spike. 
When     Kent    says    that    Cornwall    and    Regan — 

"  Summon'd  up  their  meiny^  straight  took  horse." 

{Lear^  ii.  4.) 

he  is  using  a  common  Mid.  English  and  Tudor 
word  which  comes,  through  Old  Fr.  maisniee,  from 
Vulgar  Lat  ^mansionata,  a  houseful.  A  menial  is  a 
member  of  such  a  body.  An  Italian  cognate  is 
masnadiere^  "  a  ruffler,  a  swashbuckler,  a  swaggerer, 
a  high  way  theefe,  a  hackster  "  (Florio).  Those  inclined 
to  moralise  may  see  in  these  words  a  proof  that  the 
arrogance  of  the  great  man's  flunkey  was  curbed  in 
England  earlier  than  in  Italy.  Old  Fr.  maisniee  is  now 
replaced  by  m^nagey  Vulgar  Lat.  '^mansionaticum.  A 
derivative  of  this  word  is  m^nagerie^  first  applied  to  the 
collection  of  household  animals,  but  now  to  a  "wild 
beast  show." 

A  bonfire  was  formerly  a  bonefire.  We  find  bane- 
fire,  "  ignis  ossium,"  in  a  Latin  dictionary  of  1483,  and 
Cooper  explains  pyra  by  ^'bonefire,  wherein  men's 
bodyes  were  burned."  Apparently  the  word  is  due  to 
the  practice  of  burning  the  dead  after  a  victory. 
Hexham  has  bonefire,  "een  been-vier,  dat  is,  als  men 
victorie  brandt."  Walnut  is  related  to  Wahs,,  Comwally 
the  Walloons,  Wallsichisi  and  Sir  William  WalhcQ.  It 
means  "foreign"  nut  This  very  wide  spread  wal  is 
supposed  to  represent  the  Celtic  tribal  name  Voices.  It 
was  applied  by  the  English  to  the  Celts,  and  by  the 
Germans   to   the   French   and    Italians,  especially  the 

1  But  the  early  use  of  the  word  in  the  sense  of  middle-man  points  to 
contamination  with  some  other  word  of  different  meaning. 


I. 


162  DOUBLETS 

latter,  whence  the  earlier  Ger.  welsche  Nuss^  for  Walnuss. 
The  German  Swiss  use  it  of  the  French  Swiss,  hence  the 
canton  Wallis  or  Valais.  The  Old  French  name  for  the 
walnut  is  nozx gauge,  Lat.  Gallica.  The  relation  oi umbrella 
to  umber  is  pretty  obvious.     The  former  is  Italian — 

"A  little  shadow,  a  little  round  thing  that  women  bare  in  their 
hands  to  shadow  them.  Also  a  broad  brimd  hat  to  keepe  off 
heate  and  rayne.  Also  a  kinde  of  round  thing  like  a  round 
skreene  that  gentlemen  use  in  Italie  in  time  of  sommer  or  when 
it  is  very  hote,  to  keepe  the  sunne  from  them  when  they  are 
riding  by  the  way."    (Florio.) 

Umber  is  Fr.  terre  d^ ombre,  shadow  earth — 

"  I'll  put  myself  in  poor  and  mean  attire, 
And  with  a  kind  of  umber  smirch  my  face." 

{As  You  Like  It,  i.  3.) 

Ballad,  originally  a  dancing  song,  Prov.  ballada,  is  a 
doublet  of  ballet,  and  thus  related  to  ball.  We  find  a 
late  Lat.  ballare,  to  dance,  in  Saint  Augustine,  but  the' 
history  of  this  group  of  words  is  obscure.  The  sense 
development  of  carol  is  very  like  that  of  ballad.  It  is 
from  Old  Fr.  carolle,  "  a  kinde  of  dance  wherein  many 
may  dance  together ;  also,  a  carroll,  or  Christmas  song  " 
(Cotgrave).  The  form  corolla  is  found  in  Provencal,  and 
carolle  in  Old  French  is  commonly  used,  like  Ger.  Kranz, 
garland,  and  Lat.  corona,  of  a  social  or  festive  ring  of 
people.  Hence  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the 
origin  of  the  word  is  Lat.  corolla,  a  little  garland. 

Many  "chapel"  people  would  be  shocked  to  know 
that  chapel  means  properly  the  sanctuary  in  which  a 
saint's  relics  are  deposited.  The  name  was  first  applied 
to  the  chapel  in  which  was  preserved  the  cape  or  cloak 
of  St  Martin  of  Tours.  The  doublet  capel  survives 
in  Capel  Court,  near  the  Exchange.  Ger.  Kapelle  also 
means  orchestra  or  military  band.      Tocsin  is  literally 


TOCSIN— MERINO  153 

"touch  sign."  Fr.  toquer^  to  tap,  beat,  cognate  with 
touchy  survives  in  "  tuck  of  drum  "  and  tucket — 

"  Then  let  the  trumpets  sound 
The  tucket  sonance  and  the  note  to  mount." 

{Henry  K,  iv.  2.) 

while  sinet^  the  diminutive  of  Old  Fr.  sin^  »ign,  has  given 
sennet^  common  in  the  stage  directions  of  Elizabethan 
plays  in  a  sense  very  similar  to  that  of  tucket. 

Junket  is  from  Old  Fr.  joncade^  "  a  certaine  spoone- 
meat,  made  of  creame,  rose-water,  and  sugar"  (Cotgrave), 
Ital.  giuncata^  "  a  kinde  of  fresh  cheese  and  creame,  so 
called  bicause  it  is  brought  to  market  upon  rushes ; 
also  a  junket"  (Florio).  It  is  thus  related  to  Jonquil^ 
which  comes,  through  French,  from  Span.  junquillOy  a 
diminutive  from  Lat.  juncus^  rush.  The  plant  is 
named  from  its  rush-like  leaves.  Ditto^  Italian,  lit. 
"  said,"  and  ditty ^  Old  Fr.  dite^  are  both  past  participles,^ 
from  the  Latin  verbs  dico  and  dicto  respectively.  The 
nave  of  a  church  is  from  Fr.  nef^  still  occasionally  used 
in  poetry  in  its  original  sense  of  ship,  Lat.  navis.  It  is 
thus  related  to  navy^  Old  Fr.  navie^  a  derivative  of 
navis.  Similarly  Ger.  Schiff  is  used  in  the  sense  of 
nave,  though  the  metaphor  is  variously  explained. 

The  old  word  cole^  cabbage,  its  north  country  and 
Scottish  equivalent  kail^  Fr.  chou  (Old  Fr.  choJ)^  and 
Ger.  Kohl^  are  all  from  Lat.  caulis,  cabbage ;  cf.  cauli- 
flower.  We  have  the  Dutch  form  in  colza^  which  comes, 
through  French,  from  Du.  kool-zaad^  cabbage  seed. 
Cabbage  itself  is  Fr.  caboche,  a  Picard  derivative  of  Lat. 
caputs  head.  In  modern  French  caboche  corresponds  to 
our  vulgar  "chump."  A  goshawk  is  a  goose  hawk^  so 
called  from  its  preying  on  poultry.  Merino  is  related  to 
mayor,  which  comes,  through  French,  from  Lat.  maior, 

'  But  the  usual  Italian  past  participle  of  dire  is  detto. 


\l 


154  DOUBLETS 

greater.  Span,  merino^  Vulgar  Lat.  *  majorinus^  means 
both  a  magistrate  and  a  superintendent  of  sheep-walks. 
From  the  latter  meaning  comes  that  of  "  sheepe  driven 
from  the  winter  pastures  to  the  sommer  pastures,  or  the 
wooll  of  those  sheepe  "  (Percy  vail).  Portcullis  is  from 
Old  Yx.  porte  coulisse^  sliding  door.  Fr.  coulisse  is  still 
used  of  many  sliding  contrivances,  especially  in  connec- 
tion with  stage  scenery,  but  in  the  portcullis  sense  it  ij 
replaced  by  herse  (see  p.  75),  except  in  the  language  o{ 
heraldry.  The  masculine  form  coulis  means  a  clear 
broth,  or  cullis^  as  it  was  called  in  English  up  to  the 
1 8th  century.  This  suggests  colander^  which,  like  port- 
cullis^ belongs  to  Lat.  colare,  "to  streine"  (Cooper), 
whence  Fr.  couler^  to  flow. 

Solder^  formerly  spelt  sawder  or  sadder^  and  still  so 
pronounced  by  the  plumber,  represents  Fr.  soudure^ 
from  the  verb  souder ;  cf.  batter  from  Old  Fr.  batture^ 
fritter  from  Fr.  friture^  and  tenter  (hooks)  ^  from  Fr. 
tenture.  Fr.  souder  is  from  Lat.  solidare^  to  consolidate. 
Fr.  sou^  formerly  sol^  a  halfpenny,  is  said  to  come 
from  Lat.  solidus,  the  meaning  of  which  appears  also 
in  the  Italian  participle  soldato^  a  soldier,  lit.  a  paid 
man.  This  Italian  word  has  passed  into  French  and 
German,  displacing  the  older  cognates  soudard  and 
Soldner^  which  now  have  a  depreciatory  sense.  Eng. 
soldier  is  of  Old  French  origin.  It  is  represented  in 
medieval  Latin  by  sol[{\darius^  glossed  sowdeor  in  a 
vocabulary  of  the  15th  century.  As  in  solder^  the  / 
has  been  re-introduced  by  learned  influence,  but  the 
vulgar  sodger  is  nearer  the  original  pronunciation. 
*  Hooks  used  for  stretching  cloth. 


CHAPTER   XI 

HOMONYMS 

Modern  English  contains  some  six  or  seven  hundred 
pairs  or  sets  of  homonyms,  i.e.^  of  words  identical  in 
sound  and  spelling  but  differing  in  meaning  and  origin. 
The  New  English  Dictionary  recognises  provisionally 
nine  separate  nouns  rack.  The  subject  is  a  difficult 
one  to  deal  with,  because  one  word  sometimes  develops 
such  apparently  different  meanings  that  the  original 
identity  becomes  obscured,  and  even,  as  we  have  seen 
in  the  case  oi  flour  and  mettle  (p.  144),  a  difference  of 
spelling  may  result.  When  Denys  of  Burgundy  said 
to  the  physician — 

"  Go  to  1    He  was  no  fool  who  first  called  you  leeches." 

{Cloister  and  Hearth,  Ch.  26.) 

he  was  unaware  that  both  leeches  represent  Anglo-Sax. 
Icece,  healer.  On  the  other  hand,  a  resemblance  of  form 
may  bring  about  a  contamination  of  meaning.  The 
verb  to  gloss,  or  gloze,  means  simply  to  explain  or 
translate,  Greco-Lat.  glossa,  tongue,  etc. ;  but,  under 
the  influence  of  the  unrelated  gloss,  superficial  lustre, 
it  has  acquired  the  sense  of  specious  interpretation. 
That  part  of  a  helmet  called  the  beaver — 

"  I  saw  young  Harry,  with  his  beaver  on, 
His  cuisses  on  his  thigh,  gallantly  arm'd. 
Rise  from  the  ground  like  feather'd  Mercury." 

(i  Henry  IV.^  iv.  i.) 

166 


156  HOMONYMS 

has,  of  course,  no  connection  with  the  animal  whose] 
fur  has  been  used  for  some  centuries  for  expensive! 
hats.  It  comes  from  Old  Fr.  baviere^  a  child's  bib,  now] 
replaced  by  bavette^  from  baver^  to  slobber. 

It  may  be  noted  en  passant  that  many  of  the] 
revived  medieval  words  which  sound  so  picturesque 
in  Scott  are  of  very  prosaic  origin.     Thus  the  basnet — 

"  My  basnet  to  a  prentice  cap, 
Lord  Surrey's  o'er  the  Till." 

{Marmion^  vi.  21.) 

or  close-fitting  steel  cap  worn  under  the  ornamental 
helmet,  is  Fr.  bassinet^  a  little  basin.  It  was  also  called 
a  kettle  hat,  or  pot.  Another  obsolete  name  given  to 
a  steel  cap  was  a  privy  pallet^  from  Fr.  palette,  a  barber's 
bowl,  a  "helmet  of  Mambrino."  To  a  brilliant  living 
monarch  we  owe  the  phrase  "  mailed  fist,"  a  translation 
of  G^x.  gepanzerte  Faust.  Panzer,  a  cuirass,  is  etymo- 
logically  a  pauncher,  or  defence  for  the  paunch.  We; 
may  compare  an  article  of  female  apparel,  which  took 
its  name  from  a  more  polite  name  for  tiiis  part  of 
the  anatomy,  and  which  Shakespeare  uses  even  in  the 
sense  of  Panzer.  Imogen,  taking  the  papers  from  her 
bosom,  says — 

"What  is  here? 

The  scriptures  of  the  loyal  Leonatus, 

All  turn'd  to  heresy  ?    Away,  away, 

Corrupters  of  my  faith  !    You  shall  no  more 

Be  stomachers  to  my  heart." 

{Cymbeline,  iii.  4.) 

Sometimes  homonyms  seem  to  be  due  to  the  lowest 
type  of  folk-etymology,  the  instinct  for  making  an 
unfamiliar  word  "look  like  something"  (see  p.  128,  «.). 
To  this  instinct  we  owe  the  nautical  companion  (p.  165). 
Trepan,  for  trapan,  to  entrap,  cannot  have  been  con- 
fused with  the  surgical  trepan  (p.  109),  although  it  has 


COMPOUND— CHASE  157 

been  assimilated  to  it.  The  compound  in  which  the 
victims  of  "  Chinese  slavery "  languished  is  the  Malay 
kampongy  an  enclosure. 

The  scent  called  bergamot  takes  its  name  from 
Bergamo^  in  Italy,  whence  also  Shakespeare's  bergomask 
dance — 

"  Will  it  please  you  to  see  the  epilogue,  or  hear  a  Bergomask 
dance  between  two  of  our  company  % " 

{Midsummer  Nighh  Dream^  v.  i.) 

but  the  bergamot  pear  is  derived  from  Turkish  beg 
armudz,  prince's  pear.  With  beg,  prince,  cf.  bey  and 
begum.  The  burden  of  a  song  is  from  Fr.  bourdon, 
"  a  drone,  or  dorre-bee  ;  also,  the  humming,  or  buzzing, 
of  bees  ;  also,  the  drone  of  a  bag-pipe  "  (Cotgrave),  It 
is  of  doubtful  origin,  but  is  not  related  to  burden,  a  load, 
which  is  connected  with  the  verb  to  bear. 

To  cashier,  i.e.,  break,  a  soldier,  is  from  Du.  casseeren^ 
which  is  borrowed  from  Fr.  casser,  to  break,  Lat. 
quassare,  frequentative  of  quatere,  to  shatter.  In  the  i6th 
and  17th  centuries  we  also  find  cass  and  cash,  which 
come  immediately  from  French,  and  are  thus  doublets 
of  quash.  Cotgrave  has  casser,  "to  casse,  cassere,  dis- 
charge." The  past  participle  of  the  obsolete  verb  to 
cass  is  still  in  military  use — 

"  But  the  colonel  said  he  must  go,  and  he  (the  drum  horse)  was 
cast  in  due  form  and  replaced  by  a  washy,  bay  beast,  as  ugly  as 
a  mule."    (Kipling,  The  Rout  of  the  White  Hussars.) 

The  other  cashier  is  of  Italian  origin.  He  takes  charge 
of  the  cash,  which  formerly  meant  "counting-house," 
and  earHer  still  "safe,"  from  Ital.  cassa,  "a  merchant's 
cashe,  or  counter"  (Florio).  This  comes  from  Lat. 
capsa,  a  coffer,  so  that  cash  is  a  doublet  of  case^  Fr. 
caisse.  The  goldsmith's  term  chase,  is  for  enchase,  Fr. 
enchdsser,  "  to  enchace,  or  set,  in  gold,  etc. "  (Cotgrave), 


158  HOMONYMS 

from  chdsse,  coffer,  shrine,  also  from  Lat.  capsa.     From 
the  same  word  comes  (window)  sash. 

Gammon^  from  Mid.  Eng.  gamen^  now  reduced  to 
game,  survives  as  a  slang  word  and  also  in  the  com- 
pound backgammon.  In  a  gammon  of  bacon  we  have 
the  Picard  form  of  Fr.  jambon,  a  ham,  an  augmentative 
of  jambe,  leg.  Cotgrave  has  jambon,  "a  gammon! 
Gambit  is  related,  from  Ital.  gambetto,  "a  tripping  up 
of  one's  heels "  (Torriano).  A  game  leg  is  in  dialect  a 
gammy  leg.  This  is  Old  Fr.  gambi,  "bent,  crooked, 
bowed  "  (Cotgrave),  which  is  still  used  in  some  French 
dialects  in  the  sense  of  lame.  It  comes  from  the  sam( 
Celtic  root  diSjambey  etc. 

Host,  an  army,  now  used  only  poetically  or  meta- 
phorically, is  from  Old  Fr.  ost,  army,  Lat.  hostis,  enemy. 
The  host  who  receives  us  is  Old  Fr.  oste  {hdte),  Lat. 
hospesy  hospit-y  guest.  These  two  hosts  are,  however, 
ultimately  related.  It  is  curious  that,  while  modern 
Fr.  hdte  (Jiospes)  means  both  "host"  and  "guest,"  the 
other  host  (Jtostts)  is,  very  far  back,  a  doublet  of  guest^ 
the  ground  meaning  of  both  being  "  stranger."  "  It  ij 
remarkable  in  what  opposite  directions  the  Germans 
and  Romans  have  developed  the  meaning  of  the  olc 
hereditary  name  for  'stranger.'  To  the  Roman  the 
stranger  becomes  an  enemy;  among  the  Germans  he 
enjoys  the  greatest  privileges,  a  striking  confirmation 
of  what  Tacitus  tells  us  in  his  Germania."'^  In  a  dog 
kennel  we  have  the  Norman  form  of  Fr.  chenil,  related 
to  chien^  but  kennel^  a  gutter — 

"  Go,  hop  me  over  every  kennel  home." 

{Taming  of  the  Shrew^  iv.  3.) 

is  a  doublet  of  channel  and  canai,. 

"  O  villain  !  thou  stolest  a  cup  of  sack  eighteen  years  ago,  anc 
wert  taken  with  the  manner."    (i  Henry  IV.,  ii.  4.) 

*  Kluge,  Etymologisches  Wdrterbuch^  Strassburg,  1899,  s.v.  Cast, 


M  AN(EU  VRE— M  YSTER  Y  159 

says  Prince  Hal  to  Bardolph.  In  the  old  editions  this 
is  spelt  manour  or  mainour  and  means  "  in  the  act." 
It  is  an  Anglo-French  doublet  of  manoeuvre^  late 
Lat.  manu-opera^  handiwork,  and  is  thus  related  to 
its  homonym  manner^  Fr.  manure^  from  manier^  to 
handle.  Another  doublet  oi  manoeuvre  is  manure^  now 
a  euphemism  for  dung,  but  formerly  used  of  the  act  of 
tillage — 

"  The  manuring  hand  of  the  tiller  shall  root  up  all  that  burdens 
the  soil."    (Milton,  Reason  of  Church  Government.) 

Inure  is  similarly  formed  from  Old  Fr.  enoeuvrer^  lit- 
erally "  to  work  in,"  hence  to  accustom  to  toil. 

John  Gilpin's  "good  friend  the  calender"  i.e.  the 
cloth-presser,  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  calendar  which 
indicates  the  calends  of  the  month,  nor  with  the  calender^ 
or  Persian  monk,  of  the  Arabian  Nights ^  whom  Mr 
Pecksniff  described  as  a  "one-eyed  almanack"*^ — 

"'A  one-eyed  calender^  I  think,  sir,'  faltered  Tom. 

" '  They  are  pretty  nearly  the  same  thing,  I  believe,'  said  Mr 
Pecksniff,  smiling  compassionately;  'or  they  used  to  be  in  my 
time.'"     {Martin  Chiizzlewit^  Ch.  6.) 

The  verb  to  calender^  to  press  and  gloss  cloth,  etc.,  is 
from  Old  Fr.  calendrer  {calandrer),  "  to  sleeke,  smooth, 
plane,  or  polish,  linnen  cloth,  etc."  (Cotgrave).  This 
word  is  generally  considered  to  be  related  to  cylinder^ 
a  conjecture  which  is  supported  by  obsolete  Fr.  calende^ 
used  of  the  "  rollers "  by  means  of  which  heavy  stones 
are  moved. 

A  craft,  or  association  of  masters^  was  once  called 
a  mistery  (for  mastery  or  maistrie)^  usually  misspelt 
mystery  by  association  with  a  word  of  quite  different 
origin  and  meaning.  This  accidental  resemblance  is 
often  played  on — 

"Painting,  sir,   I   have  heard  say,  is  a  mystery;   but  what 


160  HOMONYMS 

mystery  there  should  be  in  hanging,  if  I  should  be  hanged,  I  canno 
imagine."    {Measure  for  Measure^  iv.  2.) 

For  the  pronunciation,  cf.  mister ^  for  master^  ani 
mistress?-  The  French  for  "  mistery "  is  metier^  earlie 
mestzer,  "a  trade,  occupation,  misterie,  handicraft 
(Cotgrave),  from  Old  Fr.  maistier,  Lat.  magisteriun 
In  its  other  senses  Fr.  metier  represents  Lat.  ministeriun 
service. 

PawUy  a  pledge,  is  from  Old  Fr.  pan,  with  the  sam 
meaning.  The  origin  of  this  word,  cognates  of  whic 
occur  in  the  Germanic  languages,  is  unknown.  Th 
pawn  at  chess  is  Fr.  pion,  a  pawn,  formerly  also  a  foot 
soldier,  used  contemptuously  in  modern  French  for 
junior  assistant  master.  This  represents  a  Vulgar  Lai 
*pedo,  pedon-,  from  pes,  foot ;  cf.  Span,  peon,  "  a  footemar 
a  pawne  at  chesse,  a  pioner,  or  laborer"  (Percyvall] 
In  German  the  pawn  is  called  Bauer,  peasant,  a  nami 
also  given  to  the  knave  in  the  game  of  euchre,  wheno 
American  bower  "^ — 

"At  last  he  put  down  a  right  boiver^ 
Which  the  same  Nye  had  dealt  unto  me." 

(Bret  Harte,  The  Heat/ten  Chinee.) 

When  Jack  Bunce  says — 

"  If  they  hurt  but  one  hair  of  Cleveland's  head,  there  will  h 
the  devil  to  pay,  and  no  pitch  hot."     {Pirate,  Ch.  36.) 

he  is  using  a  nautical  term  which  has  no  connection  wit 
Fr.  payer.  To  pay,  i.e.  to  pitch  (a  ship),  is  from  Old  Fi 
peier  or  poier,  Lat.  picare,  from  pix,  pitch.  Fr.  limon, 
lime,  has  given  Eng.  lenion,^  but  "  lemon  sole "  is  froi 
Fr.  limande,  a  flat-fish,  dab.    A  quarry  from  which  ston^ 

^  Now  abbreviated  to  miss  in  a  special  sense. 

2  The  Bowery  of  New  York  was  formerly  a  homestead, 

'  Knave  of  trumps. 

*  In  modem  French  the  lemon  is  called  citron  and  the  citron  cidrat. 


QUARRY—QUARREL  161 

is  obtained  was  formerly  quarrer,  Old  Fr.  quarri^re 
{carriere),  a  derivative  of  Lat.  quadrus ;  cf  quadratarius^ 
"a  squarer  of  marble"  (Cooper).  The  quarry  of  the 
hunter  has  changed  its  form  and  meaning.  In  Mid. 
English  we  find  quarr^  and  quirrd^  from  Old  Fr.  cuirh^ 
now  curh,  "a  (dog's)  reward ;  the  hounds'  fees  of,  or  part  in, 
the  game  they  have  killed  "  (Cotgrave).  The  Old  French 
form  means  "  skinful "  (cf.  pozgn^e,  fistful),  the  hounds* 
reward  being  spread  on  the  skin  of  the  slain  animal. 
It  is  thus  related  to  cuirass,  originally  used  of  leathern 
armour.  In  Shakespeare  quarry  usually  means  a  heap 
of  dead  game — 

"  Would  the  nobility  lay  aside  their  ruth, 
And  let  me  use  my  sword,  I'd  make  a  quarry 
With  thousands  of  these  quarter'd  slaves,  as  high 
As  I  could  pick  my  lance." 

{CoriolanuSy  i.  i.) 

In  modern  English  it  is  applied  rather  to  the  animal 
pursued.  Related  to  the  first  quarry  is  quarrel^  the 
square-headed  bolt  shot  from  a  crossbow — 

"It  is  reported  by  William  Brito  that  the  arcubalista  or 
arbalist  was  first  shewed  to  the  French  by  our  king  Richard  the 
First,  who  was  shortly  after  slain  by  a  quarrel  thereof." 

(Camden,  Remains  concerning  Britain?) 

It  comes  from  Old  Fr.  carrel,  of  which  the  modern  form, 
carreau,  is  used  of  many  four-sided  objects,  e.g.y  a  square 
tile,  the  diamond  at  card^  a  pane  of  glass.  In  the  last 
sense  both  quarrel  and  quarry  are  still  used  by  glaziers. 

^  In  the  chapter  on  ^^  Artillery**  So  also,  in  the  Authorised  Version— 
"Jonathan  gave  his  artillery  (his  bow  and  arrows)  unto  his  lad,  and  said 
unto  him,  'Go,  carry  them  into  the  city.'"  (i  Samuel,  xx.  40.)  It  is 
curious  that  both  artillery  and  gun  belong  to  the  pre-gunpowder  period* 
and  that  the  origin  of  neither  word  is  as  yet  satisfactorily  explained. 

L 


162  HOMONYMS 

In  a  ^^  school  oi  porpoises  "  we  have  the  Dutch  doublet 
of  shoaL     The  older  spelling  is  scull — 

"And  there  they  fly,  or  die,  like  scaled  sculls^ 
Before  the  belching  whale." 

{Troilus  and  Cressida^  v.  5.) 

A  sorrel  horse  and  the  plant  called  sorrel  are  both 
French  words  of  German  origin.  The  adjective,  used 
in  venery  of  a  buck  of  the  third  year,  is  a  diminutive 
of  Old  Fr.  sor^  which  survives  in  hareng  saur^  red 
herring,  and  is  cognate  with  Eng.  sear — 

'*  The  sear^  the  yellow  leaf." 

{Macbeth^  v.  3.) 

The  plant  name  is  related  to  sour.  Its  modern  French 
form  surelle  occurs  now  only  in  dialect,  having  been 
superseded  by  oseille,  which  appears  to  be  due  to  the 
mixture  of  two  words  meaning  sour,  sharp,  viz.,  Vulgar 
Lat.  *acetula  and  Greco-Lat.  oxalis. 

The  verb  tattoo,  to  adorn  the  skin  with  patterns,  is 
Polynesian.  The  military  tattoo  is  Dutch.  It  was  earlier 
tap-to,  and  was  the  signal  for  closing  the  "taps,"  or 
taverns.  The  first  recorded  occurrence  of  the  word  is 
in  Colonel  Hutchinson's  orders  to  the  garrison  of 
Nottingham,  the  original  of  which  hangs  in  th( 
Nottingham  City  Library — 

"If  any-one  shall  bee  found  tiplinge  or  drinkinge  in  any 
taverne,  inne,  or  alehouse  after  the  houre  of  nyne  of  the  clock  at 
night,  when  the  tap-too  beates,  he  shall  pay  2s.  6d."    (1644.) 

Cf.  Ger.  Zapfenstreichy  lit.  tap-stroke,  the  name  of 
play  which  was  produced  a  few  years  ago  in  London 
under  the  title  "  Lights  Out."  Ludwig  explains  Zap- 
fenschlag  ox  Zapfenstreich,  as  "die  Zeit  da  die  Soldaten 
aus  den  Schencken  heimgehen  mussen,  the  taptow!^ 


WRONG  ASSOCIATION  163 

Tassel^  in  "  tassel  gentle  " — 

"  O,  for  a  falconer's  voice, 
To  lure  this  tassel-gtXiW^  back  again." 

{Romeo  and  Juliet^  ii.  2.) 

is  for  tercel  or  tiercel^  the  male  hawk,  "so  tearmed, 
because  he  is,  commonly,  a  third  part  less  than  the 
female"  (Cotgrave,  s.v.  tiercelet).  The  true  reason  for 
the  name  is  doubtful.  The  pendent  ornament  called  a 
tassel  is  a  diminutive  of  Mid.  Eng.  tasse^  a  heap,  bunch, 
Fr.  tas.     Tent  wine  is  Span,  vino  ttnto,  i.e.y  coloured — 

"Of  this  last  there's  little  comes  over  right,  therefore  the 
vintners  make  Tent  (which  is  a  name  for  all  wines  in  Spain, 
except  white)  to  supply  the  place  of  it "  (Howell,  Familiar  Letters^ 
1634). 

The  other  tent  is  from  the  Old  French  past  participle 
of  tendre^  to  stretch. 

The  Shakesperian  utterance — 

"  Rather  than  so,  come,  fate,  into  the  list, 
And  champion  me  to  the  utterance." 

{Macbeth^  iii.  i.) 
is  the   Fr.   outrance^  in   combat  a   outrance^   i.e.^  to  the 
extreme,  which  belongs  to  Lat.  ultra.     It  is  quite  un- 
connected with  the  verb  to  utter^  from  out. 

We  have  seen  how,  in  the  case  oT  some  homo- 
nyms, confusion  arises,  and  a  popular  connection  is 
established,  between  words  which  are  quite  unrelated. 
The  same  sort  of  association  often  springs  up  between 
words  which,  without  being  homonyms,  have  some 
accidental  resemblance  in  form  or  meaning,  or  in  both. 
Such  association  may  bring  about  curious  changes  in 
form  and  meaning.  Touchy,  which  now  conveys  the 
idea  of  sensitiveness  to  touchy  is  corrupted  from  tetchy — 

'*  Tetchy  and  wayward  was  thy  infancy."    {Richard  111.^  iv.  4.) 
The   original  meaning  was   something   like  "infected, 
tainted,"  from  Old  Fr.  teche  {tache\  a  spot.     The  word 


164  HOMONYMS 

surround  has  completely  changed  its  meaning  through' 
association  with  round.  It  comes  from  Old  Fr.  suronder^ 
to  overflow,  Lat.  super-undare^  and  its  meaning  and 
origin  were  quite  clear  to  the  16th-century  lexico- 
graphers. Thus  Cooper  has  inundo^  "to  overflowe,  to 
surround^  A  French  bishop  carries  a  crosse,  and  an 
archbishop  a  croix.  These  words  are  of  separate  origin. 
From  crosse^  which  does  not  mean  "cross,"  comes  our 
derivative  crosier^  carried  by  both  bishops  and  arch- 
bishops. It  is  etymologically  identical,  as  its  shape 
suggests,  with  the  shepherd's  crook^  and  the  bat  used 
in  playing  lacrosse. 

The  prophecy  of  the  pessimistic  ostler  that,  owing  to 
motor-cars — 

"  ^Osses  soon  will  all  be  in  the  circusses. 
And  if  you  want  an  ostler^  try  the  work'uses." 

(E.  V.  Lucas.) 

shows  by  what  association  the  meaning  of  ostler^  Old, 
Fr.  Jiostelier  {hotelier)^  has  changed.  A  belfry  has 
nothing  to  do  with  bells.  Old  Fr.  berfroi  (beffroi)  was 
a  tower  used  in  warfare.  It  comes  from  two  German 
words  represented  by  modern  bergen^  to  hide,  guard, 
and  Frzede,  peace,  so  that  it  means  "  guard-peace."  The 
triumph  of  the  form  belfry  is  due  to  association  with 
bell^  but  the  /  is  originally  due  to  dissimilation,  since  we 
find  belfroi  also  in  Old  French.  The  same  dissimilation 
is  seen  in  Fr.  auberge,  inn,  Prov.  alberga,  which  comes 
from  Old  High  Ger.  harzy  an  army,  and  bergen\  cf.  our 
harbour  (p.  2)  and  harbinger  (p.  90).  Scabbard  is 
from  Old  Fr.  escauberc^  earlier  escalberc,  by  dissimila- 
tion for  escarberCy  from  Old  High  Ger.  scdr^  a  blade 
{cf.  ploughi->^<2:r^),  and  bergen.  Cf.  hauberk^  guard-neck, 
Ger.  Hals}  neck. 

^  Hence,  or  rather  from  Du.  hals^  the  hawseA\xAt^^  the  "  throat "  through 
which  the  cable  runs. 


WRONG  ASSOCIATION  165 

The  buttery  is  not  so  named  from  butter^  but  from 
bottles.  It  is  for  butlery^  as  chancery  (see  p.  88)  is  for 
chancelry.  It  is  not,  of  course,  now  limited  to  bottles, 
any  more  than  the  pantry  to  bread  or  the  larder  to 
bacon,  Fr.  lard^  Lat.  laridum.  The  spence^  aphetic  for 
dispense^  is  now  known  only  in  dialect — 

"  I  am  gaun  to  eat  my  dinner  quietly  in  the  spenceP 

{Old  Mortality,  Ch.  3.) 

but  has  given  us  the  name  Spencer,  The  still-room  maid 
is  not  extinct,  but  I  doubt  whether  the  distilling  of 
strong  waters  is  now  carried  on  in  the  region  over 
which  she  presides.  A  journeyman  has  nothing  to  do 
with  journeys  in  the  modern  sense  of  the  word,  but 
works  a  la  journ^e,  by  the  day.  Cf.  Fr.  journalier,  "  a 
journey  man ;  one  that  workes  by  the  day  "  (Cotgrave), 
and  Ger.  Tagelbhner,  literally  "day -wager."  On  the 
other  hand,  a  day-woman  {Lovers  Labour's  Lost,  i.  2)  is 
an  explanatory  pleonasm  (cf.  greyhound,  p.  135)  for  the 
old  word  day,  servant,  milkmaid,  etc.,  whence  the  common 
surname  Day  and  the  derivative  dairy. 

A  briar  pipe  is  made,  not  from  briar,  but  from  the 
root  of  heather,  Fr.  bruyere,  of  Celtic  origin.  A  catchpole 
did  not  catch  polls,  i.e.  heads,  nor  did  he  catch  people 
with  a  pole,  although  a  very  ingenious  implement, 
exhibited  in  the  Tower  of  London  Armoury,  is  cata- 
logued as  a  catchpole.  The  word  corresponds  to  a  French 
compound  chasse-poule,  catch-hen,  in  Picard  cache-pole, 
the  official's  chief  duty  being  to  collect  dues,  or,  in 
default,  poultry.  For  pole,  from  Fr.  poule,  cf.  polecat,  also 
^n  enemy  of  fowls.  The  companion-lsidder  on  ship- 
board is  a  product  of  folk-etymology.  It  leads  to  the 
kampanje,  the  Dutch  for  cabin.  Both  kampanje  and 
cabin  belong  to  a  late  Lat.  capanna,  hut,  which  has  a 
very  numerous  progeny.  Kajuit,  another  Dutch  word 
for  cabin,  earlier  kajute,  has  given  us  cuddy. 

L   2 


166  HOMONYMS 


1 


A  carousal  is  now  regarded  as  a  carouse^  but  the  two 
\  are  quite  separate,  or,  rather,  there  are  two  distinct 
I  words  carousal.  One  of  them  is  from  Fr.  carrousely  a 
I  word  of  Italian  origin,  meaning  a  pageant  or  carnival 
I  with  chariot  races  and  tilting.     This  word,  obsolete  in 

this  sense,  is  sometimes  spelt  el  and  accented  on  the 

last  syllable — 

"  Before  the  crystal  palace,  where  he  dwells, 
The  armed  angels  hold  their  carousels!^ 

(Andrew  Marvell,  LachrymcB  Musamm.) 

Ger.  Karussell  means  a  roundabout  at  a  fair.  Our 
carousal^  if  it  is  the  same  word,  has  been  affected  in 
sound  and  meaning  by  carouse.  This  comes,  probably 
through  French,  from  Ger.  garaus^  quite  out,  in  the 
phrase  garaus  trinken^  i.e.^  to  drink  bumpers — 

"  The  queen  carouses  to  thy  fortune,  Hamlet." 

{Hamlet,  v.  2.) 

Rabelais  says  that  he  is  not  one  of  those —  ' 

"Qui,  par  force,  par  oultraige  et  violence,  contraignent  les 
compaignons  trinquer  voyre  carous  et  alluz  ^  qui  pis  est." 

{Pantagruel,  iii.,  Prologue.) 

The  spelling  garous,  and  even  garaus,  is  found  in 
17th-century  English. 

It  is  perhaps  unnecessary  to  say  that  a  maul-stick, 
Dutch  maal-stok,  paint-stick,  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
verb  to  maul,  formerly  to  mall^  i.e.,  to  hammer.  Nor 
is  the  painter's  lay-figure  connected  with  our  verb  to  lay. 
It  is  also,  like  so  many  art  terms,  of  Dutch  origin,  the 
lay  representing  Du.  lid,  limb,  cognate  with  Ger, 
Glied?     The   German    for    lay-figure   is    Gliederpuppe, 

*  Ger.  all  aus,  all  out. 
^  Hence  the  Mall  and  Pall-Mall^  where  games  like  croquet  were  played. 

*  The  g-  represents  the  Old  High  German  prefix  gi-,  ge-,    Cf.  Eng. 
luck  and  Ger.  Gluck, 


FOOTPAD— PESTER  167 

joint -doll.  Sewel's  Dutch  Diet.  (1766)  has  leeman,  or 
ledeinan^  "a  statue,  with  pliant  limbs  for  the  use  of  a 
painter."  A  footpad  is  not  a  rubber-soled  highwayman, 
but  a  pad^  or  robber,  who  does  his  work  on  foot.  He 
was  also  called  a  padder — 

"  '  Ye  crack-rope  padder^  born  beggar,  and  bred  thief ! '  replied 
the  hag."    {Heart  of  Midlothian^  Ch.  29.) 

ix.^  one  who  takes  to  the  "  road,"  from  Du.  pad^  path. 
Pad^  an  ambling  nag,  a  "  roadster,"  is  the  same  word. 

Pen  comes,  through  Old  French,  from  Lat.  pennay  "  a 
penne,  quil,  or  fether "  (Cooper),  while  pencil  is  from 
Old  Fr.  pincel  (pinceau)^  a  painter's  brush,  from  Lat. 
penicillus,  a  little  tail.  The  modern  meaning  of  pencil^ 
which  still  meant  painter's  brush  in  the  i8th  century,  is 
due  to  association  with  pen.  The  ferrule  of  a  walking- 
stick  is  a  distinct  word  from  ferule^  an  aid  to  education. 
The  latter  is  Lat.  ferula^  "  an  herbe  like  big  fenell,  and 
maye  be  called  fenell  giant.  Also  a  rodde,  sticke,  or 
paulmer,  wherewith  children  are  striken  and  corrected 
in  schooles ;  a  cane,  a  reede,  a  walking  staffe  "  (Cooper). 
Ferrule  is  a  perversion  of  earlier  virrel^  virrol^  Fr.  virole^ 
"an  iron  ring  put  about  the  end  of  a  staffe,  etc.,  to 
strengthen  it,  and  keep  it  from  riving"  (Cotgrave). 
The  modern  form  is  perhaps  partly  due  to  the  preceding 
word,  the  "  staffe  "  acting  as  point  of  contact. 

The  modern  meaning  of  pester  is  due  to  a  wrong 
association  with  pest.  Its  earlier  meaning  is  to  hamper 
or  entangle — 

"Confined  2x1^ pestered \n  this  pinfold  here.** 

{Camus.,  1.  7.) 

It  was  formerly  impester^  from  Old  Fr.  empestrer 
{empetrer),  "  to  pester,  intricate,  intangle,  trouble, 
incumber  "  (Cotgrave),  originally  to  "  hobble  "  a  grazing 
horse  with  pasterns^  or  shackles  (see  pastern,  p.  76). 


168  HOMONYMS 

Mosaic  work  is  not  connected  with  Moses,  but  with 
the  muses  and  museum.  It  comes,  through  French, 
from  Ital.  mosaico^  "a  kinde  of  curious  stone  worke, 
of  divers  colours,  checkie  worke"  (Florio),  which  is 
Vulgar  Lat.  musatcum  opus.  Sorrow  and  sorry  are 
quite  unrelated.  Sorrow  is  from  Anglo-Sax.  sorg,  sorh, 
cognate  with  Ger.  Sorge,  anxiety.  Sorry,  Mid.  Eng. 
sori,  is  a  derivative  of  sore,  cognate  with  Ger.  sehr,  very, 
lit.  "  painfully  "  ;  cf.  English  "  sore  afraid,"  or  the  modern 
^^  awfully  nice,"  which  is  in  South  Germany  arg  nett, 
"  vexatiously  nice." 

It  is  probable  that  vagabond,  Lat.  vagabundus,  has  no 
etymological  connection  with  vagrant,  which  appears  to 
come  from  Old  Fr.  waucrant,  present  participle  of 
waucrer,  a  common  verb  \\\  the  Picard  dialect,  perhaps 
related  to  Eng.  walk.  Cotgrave  spells  it  vaucrer,  "to 
range,  roame,  vagary,  wander,  idly  (idle)  it  up  and 
down."  'Cotgrave  also  attributes  to  it  the  special 
meaning  of  a  ship  sailing  "  whither  wind  and  tide  will 
carry  it,"  the  precise  sense  in  which  it  is  used  in  the 
13th-century  romance  of  Aucassin  et  Nicolette, 

Other  examples  of  mistaken  association  are 
scullion  and  scullery  (p.  43),  and  sentry  and  sentinel 
(p.  102).  Many  years  ago  Punch  had  a  picture  by  Du 
Maurier  called  the  "  Vikings  of  Whitby,"  followed  by 
a  companion  picture,  the  **  Viqueens."  The  word  is  not 
vi-king  but  vik-ing^  the  exact  meaning  of  vik  being 
doubtful. 


CHAPTER  XII 

FAMILY   NAMES 

In  the  study  of  family  names  we  come  across  very 
much  the  same  phenomena  as  in  dealing  with  other 
words.  They  are  subject  to  the  same  phonetic  accidents 
and  to  the  distortions  of  folk-etymology,  being  "  altered 
strangely  to  significative  words  by  the  common  sort, 
who  desire  to  make  all  to  be  significative"  (Camden, 
Remains  concerning  Britain).  Doublets  and  homonyms 
are  of  frequent  occurrence,  and  the  origin  of  some  names 
is  obscured  by  the  well  -  meaning  efforts  of  early 
philologists.  It  might  be  expected  that  a  family  name 
would  by  its  very  nature  tend  to  preserve  its  original 
form.  This  is,  however,  not  the  case.  In  old  parish 
registers  one  often  finds  on  one  page  two  or  three 
different  spellings  for  the  same  name,  and  there  are 
said  to  be  a  hundred  and  thirty  variants  of  Mainwaring} 
The  telescoped  pronunciation  of  long  names  such  as 
Cholmondeley,  Daventry,  Marjoribanks,  Strachan,  is  a 
familiar  phenomenon,  and  very  often  the  shorter 
form  persists  separately,  eg.^  Posnett  and  Poslett  occur 
often  in  Westmoreland  for  Postlethwaite ;  Beecham 
exists  by  the  side  of  Beauchamp ;  Saint  Clair  and  Saint 
Maur  are   usually  reduced  to  Sinclair  and  Seymour; 

^  Tliis  is  probably  the  record  for  a  proper  name,  but  does  not  by  any 
means  equal  that  of  the  word  cushion^  of  the  plural  of  which  about  four 
hundred  variants  are  found  in  old  wills  and  inventories* 


170  FAMILY  NAMES 

Boon'^  and  Moon  disguise  the  aristocratic  Bohun  ai 
Mohun.  In  a  story  by  Mr  Wells,  Miss  Wmchelsea's 
Hearty  the  name  Snooks  is  gradually  improved  to 
SevenoakSy  from  which  in  all  probability  it  originally 
came,  via  Senoaks ;  cf.  sennight  for  seven-nighty  and 
such  names  as  Fiveash^  Twelvetrees^  etc.  Folk- 
etymology  converts  Arblaster,  the  cross-bowman,  into 
Alabaster^  Thurgod  into  Thoroughgood,  and  the  Cornish 
Hannibal  into  Honey  ball.  Beaufoy  is  a  grammatical 
monstrosity.  Its  older  form  is  Beaufou^  fine  beech 
(see  p.  129),  with  an  ambiguous  second  syllable. 
Malthus  looks  like  Latin,  but  is  identical  with  Malt- 
house  ^  just  as  Bellows  is  for  Bellhouse^  Loftus  for 
Lofthouse^  and  Bacchus^  fined  for  intoxication,  Jan.  5, 
igii^  {or  Bakehouse.  But  many  odd  names  which  are 
often  explained  as  corruptions  may  also  have  their 
face-value.  The  first  Gotobed  was  a  sluggard,  Godbehere 
was  fond  of  this  pious  form  of  greeting,  and  Goodbeer 
purveyed  sound  liquor.  With  Toogood^  perhaps  ironical, 
we  may  compare  Fr.  Troplong^  and  with  Goodenough  a 
lady  named  Belle-assez^  often  mentioned  in  the  Pipe 
Rolls.     Physick  occurs  as  a  medieval  nickname. 

Family  names  fall  into  four  great  classes,  which  are, 
in  descending  order  of  size,  local,  baptismal,  functional, 
and  nicknames.  But  we  have  a  great  many  homonyms, 
names  capable  of  two  or  more  explanations.  Thus 
Bell  may  be  for  Fr.  le  bel  or  from  a  shop-sign.  Collet  a 
diminutive  of  Nicholas  or  an  aphetic  form  of  acolyte, 
Dennis  is  usually  for  Dionysius^  but  sometimes  for 
le  DanoiSy  the  Dane ;  Gillott^  and  all  family  names 
beginning  with  Gill-^  may  be  from  Gillian  (see  p.  46), 
or  from  Fr.  Guillaume.  A  famous  member  of  the 
latter  family  was  Guillotin,  the  humanitarian  doctor 
who  urged  the  abolition  of  clumsy  methods  of  decapita- 
*  Another  origin  of  this  name  is  Fr.  le  don. 


BAFLISMAL  NAMES  171 

tion.  His  name  is  a  double  diminutive,  like  Fr. 
diablotin^  goblin.  Leggatt  is  a  variant  of  Lidgate, 
swing  gate,  and  of  Legate.  Lovell  is  an  affectionate 
diminutive  or  is  for  Old  Fr.  louvel,  little  wolf.  It  was 
also  in  Mid.  English  a  dog's  name,  hence  the  force  of 
the  rime — 

"The  Rat  (Ratcliffe),  the  Cat  (Catesby),  and  Lovell,  our  dog, 
Rule  all  England  under  the  Hog."    (1484.) 

It  has  a  doublet  Lowell.  The  name  Turney,  well 
known  in  Nottingham,  is  from  the  town  of  Tournay,  or 
is  aphetic  for  attorney.  In  the  following  paragraphs  I 
generally  give  only  one  source  for  each  name,  but  it 
should  be  understood  that  in  many  cases  two  or  more 
are  possible.     The  forms  also  vary. 

Baptismal  names  often  give  surnames  without  any 
suffix.  Sometimes  these  are  slightly  disguised,  e.g., 
Cobbett  (Cuthbert),  Garrett  (Gerard),  Hammond,  Fr. 
Hamon  (Hamo),  Hibbert  (Hubert),  Jessop  (Joseph),  Neil 
(Nigel),  Custance  (Constance)  ;  or  they  preserve  a  name 
no  longer  given  baptismally,  e.g.,  Aldridge  (Alderic), 
Bardell  (Bardolph),  Goodeve  (Godiva),  Goodlake  (Guth- 
lac),  Good7'zch  (Goderic),  Harvey'^  (Hervey,  Fr.  Hervi), 
Mayhew  (Old  Fr.  Mahieu,  Matthew).  With  the  help  of 
diminutive  suffixes  we  get  Atkin  (Adam),  Bodkin 
(Baldwin),  Larkin  (Lawrence),  Perkin,  Parkin  (Peter), 
Hackett  {}^^co),  Huggin,  Hutchin,  Hewett, Hewlett,  Howitt 
(Hugh),  Philpot  (Philip),  Tibbet  (Theobald  or  Isabella), 
r///^/ (Matilda),  J^//;^^/ (William),  H^^^/(Guy),  Gilbey, 

^  "The  last  two  centuries  have  seen  the  practice  made  popular  of  using 
surnames  for  baptismal  names.  Thus  the  late  Bishop  of  Carlisle  was 
Harvey  Goodwin,  although  for  several  centuries  Harvey  has  been  obsolete 
as  a  personal  name"  (Bardsley).  Camden  already  complains  that  "sur- 
names of  honourable  and  worshipful  families  are  given  now  to  mean  men's 
children  for  christian  names."  Forty  years  ago  there  was  hardly  a 
more  popular  name  than  Percy,  while  at  the  present  day  the  admonition, 
"  Be'ave  yerself,  *Oward,'*  is  familiar  to  the  attentive  ear. 


172  FAMILY  NAMES 

Gibbon  (Gilbert),  etc.,  with  numerous  variants  and  furthet 
derivatives.  The  changes  that  can  be  rung  on  one 
favourite  name  are  bewildering,  i.g.y  from  Robert  w( 
have  Rob^  Dob,  Hob,  and  Bob ;  the  first  three  with  i 
numerous  progeny,  while  Bob,  now  the  favourite 
abbreviation,  came  into  use  too  late  to  found  a  large 
dynasty.  From  Richard  we  have  Richards  and  Richard- 
son, and  from  its  three  abbreviations  Rick,  Dick,  Hick^ 
with  their  variants  Rich,  Digg,  Hig,  Hitch,  one  of  th( 
largest  families  of  surnames  in  the  language.^  As  th( 
preceding  examples  show,  family  names  are  frequently 
derived  from  the  mother.  Other  examples,  which  are 
not  quite  obvious,  are  Betts  (Beatrice),  Sisson  (Cecilia), 
Moxon  and  Padgett  (Margaret,  Moggy,  Madge,  Padge), 
Parnell  (Petronilla),  Ibbotson  (lb,  Isabella),  Tillotson 
(Matilda).  One  group  of  surnames  is  derived  from 
baptismal  names  given  according  to  the  season  of  the 
Church.  Such  are  Pentecost,  Pascal,  whence  Cornish 
Pascoe,  Nowell,  and  Middlemas,  a  corruption  oi 
Michaelmas?  With  these  may  be  grouped  Loveday, 
day  appointed  for  reconciliations. 

Surnames  derived  from  place  of  residence  often 
contain  a  preposition,  e.g.,  Atwood,  Underhill,  and 
sometimes  the  article  as  well,  e.g.,  Atterbury,  Bythesea. 
In  Surtees,  on  the  Tees,  we  have  a  French  preposition 
and  an  English  river  name.  Sometimes  they  preserve 
a  word  otherwise  obsolete.  Barton,  a  farmyard,  origin- 
ally  a  barley-field,  has  given  its  name  to  about  thirty 
places  in  England,  and  thus,  directly  or  indirectly,  t( 

^  It  is  even  possible  that  Hood^  Hudson^  sometimes  belong  here,  aj 
Hud  appears  to  have  been  used  as  a  North  Country  alternative  for  Richard, 
though  it  is  hard  to  see  why.  For  proofs  see  Bardsley,  DicL  of  English 
Surnames,  s.v.  Hudd. 

^  Such  a  corruption,  though  difficult  to  explain  phonetically,  is  nol 
without  example  in  uneducated  or  childish  speech.  Cf.  tiddlehat  or  tittlebat^ 
for  stickleback,.     In  stickler  (p.  76)  we  have  the  opposite  change. 


LOCAL  NAMES  173 

many  familiea     Bristow  preserves  what  was  once  the 
regular   pronunciation   of  Bristol.     The   famous  north 
country  name /^^^/ means  castle,  as  still  in  the  Isle  of. 
Man.     It  is  Old  Fr.  pel  {pal),  stake,  and  the  name  was 
originally  given  to  a  wooden  hill-fort  or  stockade. 

Many  places  which  have  given  family  names  have 
themselves  disappeared  from  the  map,  while  others, 
now  of  great  importance,  are  of  too  recent  growth 
to  have  been  used  in  this  way.  Many  of  our  family 
names  are  taken  from  those  of  continental  towns, 
especially  French  and  Flemish.  Camden  says,  "  Neither 
is  there  any  village  in  Normandy  that  gave  not  denomina- 
tion to  some  family  in  England."  Such  are  Bullen  or 
Boleyn  (Boulogne),  Cullen  (Cologne),  Challis  (Calais), 
Challen  (Chalon),  Chaworth  (Cahors),  Bridges'^  (Bruges), 
Druce  (Dreux),  Gaunt  {Gaizd,  Ghent),  Lubbock  (Liibeck), 
Luck  {Luick,  Liege),  Mann  (le  Mans),  Malms  {Malines, 
Mechlin),  Nugent  (Nogent),  Hawtrey  (Hauterive),  and 
Dampier  (Dampierre).  To  decide  which  is  the  particular 
Hauterive  or  Dampierre  in  question  is  the  work  of  the 
genealogist.  Dampierre  {Dominus  Petrus)  means  Saint 
Peter,  In  some  cases  these  names  have  been  simplified, 
e,g.,  Camden  notes  that  Conyers^  from  Coigniers^  lit. 
quince-trees,  becomes  Quince. 

French  provinces  have  given  us  Burgoyne,  Champain. 
Gascoyne or  GaskinyB.nd  Mayne,  and  adjectives  formed  from 
names  of  countries,  provinces  and  towns  survive  in  All- 
man  (Allemand),  Brabazon{le  Brabangon,  the  Brabanter), 
Brett  {le  Bret  or  le  Breton^),  Pickard  {le  Picard), 
Poidevin^  {le  Poitevin),  Manselly  Old  Fr.  Mancel 
{le  ManceaUy  inhabitant  of  Maine  or  le  Mans),  Hanway 

*  Of  course  also  of  English  origin. 
2  Hence  also  the  name  Britton. 

'  Whence  the  perversion  Portwine^  examples  of  which  occur  in  the 
London  Directory, 


174  FAMILY  NAMES 

and  Hannay  {le  Hannuyer^  the  Hainaulter),  Loving 
{le  Lorrain),  assimilated  to  Flemings  Champneys  {le 
Champenois)^  with  which  we  may  compare  CornwalliSy 
from  the  Old  French  adjective  cornwaleis,  man  of 
Cornwall.  To  these  may  be  added  Pollock^  which 
occasionally  means  the  Pole,  or  Polack — 

"  Why  then  the  Polack  never  will  defend  it." 

{Hamlet^  iv.  4.) 

fanaway^  the  Genoese,  and  Hauncey  from  the  famous 
Hanse  confederation.  Morris  means  sometimes  Moorish 
(see  p.  49),  and  Norris,  besides  having  the  meaning 
seen  in  its  contracted  form  nurse^  Fr.  nourrice^  may 
stand  for  le  Noreis^  the  Northener.  We  still  have  a 
Norroy  king-at-arms,  who  holds  office  north  of  the 
Trent. 

In  some  cases  the  territorial  de  remains,  e.g., 
Dolman  is  sometimes  the  same  as  Dalmain,  d'Allemagne^ 
Daubeney  is  d'Aubign^^  Danvers  is  d'Anvers  (Antwerp), 
Devereux  is  d^J^vreux,  a  town  which  takes  its  name 
from  the  Eburovices^  and  Disney  is  disigny.  With  these 
may  be  mentioned  Dubberley^  Fr.  du  Boulay^  of  the 
birch  wood,  and  Daivnay^  from  Old  Fr.  aunai}  a 
grove  of  alders.  The  last  governor  of  the  Bastille 
was  the  Marquis  de  Launay  {Taunai).  There  is  a  large 
group  of  such  words  in  French,  coming  from  Latin 
collectives  in  -etum ;  d^Aubray  is  from  Lat.  arbo- 
return^  and  has  given  also  the  dissimilated  form 
Darblay^  famous  in  English  literature.  Other  examples 
are  Chesney^  Chaney^  etc.,  the  oak-grove,^  Foineroy^  the 
apple-garden. 

Names  of  French  origin  are  particularly  subject  to 

'  Old  Fr.  vernai,  whence  our  Verney^  Varney,  has  the  same  meaning  ; 
cf.  Duverney,  the  name  of  a  famous  dancer.  Verne,  alder,  is  of  Celtic 
origin. 

^  Cf.  Chenevix,  old  oak,  a  name  introduced  by  the  Huguenots. 


OCCUPATIVE  NAMES  175 

corruption  and  folk-etymology.  We  have  the  classic 
example  of  Tess  Durbeyfield}  Camden,  in  his  Remains 
concerning  Britain^  gives,  among  other  curious  instances, 
Troublefield  for  Turberville.  Greenfield  is  usually  literal 
(cf.  Whitfield,  Whittaker,  Greenacre,  etc.),  but  occasionally 
for  Grenville.  Summerfield  is  for  Somerville.  The 
notorious  Dangerfield  was  of  Norman  ancestry,  from 
Angerville,  Mullins  looks  a  very  English  name,  but  it 
is  from  Fr.  moulin,  mill,  as  Musters  is  from  Old  Fr. 
moustier^  monastery.  Phillimore  is  a  corruption  of 
Finnemore^  Yx.fin  amour. 

When  we  come  to  names  which  indicate  office  or 
trade,  we  have  to  distinguish  between  those  that  are 
practically  nicknames,  such  as  King,  Duke,  Bishop, 
Ccesar'^  (Julius  Caesar  was  a  famous  cricketer  of  the  old 
school),  and  those  that  are  to  be  taken  literally.  Many 
callings  now  obsolete  have  left  traces  in  our  surnames. 
The  very  common  name  Chapman  reminds  us  that  this 
was  once  the  general  term  for  a  dealer  (see  p.  67),  one 
who  spends  his  time  in  chaffering  or  ^'■chopping  and 
changing."  The  grocer,  or  engrosser,  i.e.,  the  man  who 
bought  wholesale,  Fr.  en  grosf  came  too  late  to  supplant 
the  family  name  Spicer.  Bailey,  Old  Fr.  bailif  (bailh) ^ 
represents  all  sorts  of  officials  from  a  Scotch  magistrate 
to  a  man  in  possession.  Bayliss  seems  to  be  formed 
from  it  like  Williams  from  William.     Chaucer,  Old  Fr. 

'  Other  examples  quoted  by  Mr  Hardy  are  Pnddle,  from  Paridelle^  and 
Debby  house — "The  Debby  houses  who  now  be  carters  were  once  the  de  Bayeux 
family"  {Tess  of  the  d'  Urbervilles^  v.  35). 

^  These  names  are  supposed  to  have  been  generally  conferred  in  conse- 
quence of  characters  represented  in  public  performances  and  processions.  In 
some  cases  they  imply  that  the  bearer  was  in  the  employment  of  the  dignitary. 
We  find  them  in  other  languages,  e.g.^  Fr.  Leroy,  Leduc,  Liveque  ;  Ger.  Kdnig, 
Herzog^  Bischof.    Liveque  has  given  Eng.  Levick,  Vt'ci,  and  (Trotty)  VecJi, 

*  Gross,  twelve  dozen,  seems  to  be  of  Germanic  origin,  the  duodecimal 
hundred,  Ger.  Grosshunderi,  being  Norse  or  Gothic.  But  Ger.  Grosshundert 
means  1 20  only. 


176  FAMILY  NAMES 

chancier^  now  replaced  by  chaussetier^ "  a  hosier,  or  hose- 
maker  "  (Cotgrave),  is  probably  obsolete  as  an  English 
surname.  Mr  Homer's  ancestors  made  helmets,  Fr. 
heaume.  Jenner  is  for  engenour^  engineer  (see  gin,  p.  65). 
In  Ferrier  traditional  spelling  seems  to  have  triumphed 
over  popular  pronunciation  {farrier),  but  the  latter 
appears  in  Farrar.  Chaucer's  somonour  survives  as 
Sumner.  Ark  was  once  a  general  name  for  a  bin,  hence 
the  name  Arkwright.  Nottingham  still  has  a  Fletcher 
Gate,  Lister  Gate,  and  Pilcher  Gate.  It  is  not  surprising 
that  the  trade  of  th^fletcker,  Old  Yx.fleschier  {Flechier), 
arrow- maker,  should  be  obsolete.  The  Fletchers  have 
absorbed  also  the  fleshers,  i.e.  butchers,  which  explains 
why  they  so  greatly  outnumber  the  Bowyers  (see  p.  178), 
Bayers,  etc.  Lister,  earlier  littester,  gave  way  to 
dighester,  whence  the  name  Dexter,  well  known  in 
Nottingham,  and  this  is  now  replaced  by  dyer.  A 
Pilcher  made  pilches,  or  mantles ;  cf.  the  cognate  Fr. 
name  Pelissier,  a  maker  of  pelisses}  Kiddier  was  once 
equivalent  to  pedlar,  from  kid,  a  basket.  Sailors  still 
speak  of  the  hrcdid-kid.  For  the  name  Wait,  see  p.  76. 
The  ancestor  of  the  Poyser  family  made  scales  {poises), 
or  was  in  charge  of  a  public  balance.  Faulkner, 
falconer,  Foster,  Forster,  forester,  and  Warner,  warrener, 
go  together.  With  the  contraction  of  Wa^^ner  we  may 
compare  Marner,  mariner.  Crowther  means  fiddler. 
The  obsolete  crowd,  a  fiddle,  is  of  Celtic  origin.  It  gave 
Old  Fr.  rote,  the  name  of  the  instrument  played  by  the 
medieval  minstrels — 

"  Saxon  minstrels  and  Welsh  bards  were  extracting  mistimed 
dirges  from  their  harps,  crowds,  and  rotes. ^*     {Ivanhoe,  Ch.  41.) 

Kemp  is  an  old    English  word   for  warrior,  champion. 

^  Surplice^  Old  Fr.  surpelis,  is  a  compound  of  the  same  word.  Apparently 
it  once  meant  a  garment  worn  "  over  fur," 


OBSOLETE  CALLINGS  177 

It  represents,  like  Ger.  kdmpfen,  to  fight,  a  very  early- 
loan  from  Lat.  campus^  in  the  sense  of  battle-field. 

Pinder^  the  man  in  charge  of  the  pound  or  pinfold, 
was  the  name  of  a  famous  wicket-keeper  of  thirty  years 
ago.  The  still  more  famous  cricketing  name  of 
Trumper  means  one  who  blows  the  trump.  Cf.  Horner 
and  Corner^  which  have,  however,  alternative  origins,  a 
maker  of  horn  cups  and  a  coroner^  respectively.  A  dealer 
in  shalloon  (see  p.  47)  was  a  Chaloner  or  Chawner.  Par- 
minter^  a  tailor,  is  as  obsolete  as  its  Old  French  original 
parmentier^  a  maker  oi  parements,  deckings,  from  parer^ 
hat  parare,  to  prepare.  A  member  of  the  Parmentier 
family  popularised  the  cultivation  of  the  potato  in 
France  just  before  the  Revolution,  hence  potage 
Parmentier y  potato  soup.  The  white  tawer  still  plies  his 
trade,  but  is  hardly  recognisable  in  Whittier,  Massinger 
is  a  corruption  of  messenger.  The  Todhunter,  or  fox- 
hunter,  used  to  get  twelve  pence  per  fox-head  from  the 
parish  warden.  Coltinan  is  simple,  but  Runciman^  the 
man  in  charge  of  the  runcies  or  rouncies^  is  less  obvious. 
Rouncy^  a  nag,  is  a  common  word  in  Mid.  English. 
It  comes  from  Old  Fr.  roitcin{roussin)^  and  is  probably  a 
derivative  of  Ger,  RosSy  horse.  The  Spanish  form  is 
rocin,  "a  horse  or  jade"  (Minsheu,  1623),  whence  Don 
Quixote's  charger  Rocin-ante^  "  a  jade   formerly." 

A  park  keeper  is  no  longer  called  a  Parker^  nor  a 
maker  of  palings  and  palissades  a  Palliser,  An  English 
sea-king  has  immortalised  the  trade  of  the  Frobisher^ 
or  furbisher,  and  a  famous  bishop  bore  the  appropriate 
name  of  Latimer^  for  Latiner.  With  this  we  may 
compare  Lorimer^  for  loriner^  harness-maker,  a  derivative, 
through  Old  French,  of  Lat.  lorum^  "  a  thong  of  leather ; 
a  coller  or  other  thing,  wherewith  beastes  are  bounden 

1  Another,  and  commoner,  source  of  the  name  is  from  residence  at  a 
"corner." 

M 


178  FAMILY  NAMES 

or  tyed ;  the  reyne  of  a  brydle  "  (Cooper).  The  Loriners 
still  figure  among  the  London  City  Livery  Companies, 
as  do  also  the  Bowyers^  Broderers^  Fletchers  (see  p.  176), 
Homers  (see  p.  177),  Pattenmakers,  Poulters  and 
Upholders  (see  p.  63).  Scriven^  Old  Fr.  escrivain 
{^crivain\  is  now  usually  extended  to  Scrivener.  For 
Cator  see  p.  63.  In  some  of  the  above  cases  the  name 
may  have  descended  from  a  female,  as  we  have  not 
usually  a  separate  word  for  women  carrying  on  trades 
generally  practised  by  men.  In  French  there  is  a  feminine 
form  for  nearly  every  occupation,  hence  such  names  as 
Labouchere^  the  lady  butcher,  or  the  butcher's  wife. 

The  meaning  of  occupative  names  is  not  always  on 
the  surface.  It  would,  for  instance,  be  rash  to  form 
hasty  conclusions  as  to  the  pursuits  of  Richard  Kisser^ 
whose  name  occurs  in  medieval  London  records.  He 
probably  made  cuisses}  thigh  armour,  Fr.  cuisse^  thigh, 
Lat.  coxa.  A  Barker  employed  bark  for  tanning  pur- 
poses. Booker  is  a  doublet  of  Butcher.  A  Cleaver  was, 
in  most  cases,  a  mace-bearer.  Old  Fr.  clavier  (Clavier  is  a 
common  family  name  in  France)  from  Lat.  clava^  a  club. 
He  may,  however,  have  sometimes  been  a  porter,  as  Old 
Fr.  clavier  also  means  key-bearer,  Lat.  clavis^  a  key.  A 
Croker^  or  Crocker^  sold  crocks^  i.e.,  pottery.  A  Lander,  or 
Launder^-wd^s  a  washer-man,  Fr.  lavandier.  A  Sloper  made 
"  slops,"  i.e.,  loose  upper  garments,  overalls.  A  Reeder  or 
Reader  thatched  with  reeds.  A  Walker  walked,  but 
within  a  circumscribed  space.  He  was  also  called  2c Fuller^ 
Fr.  fouler,  to  trample,  or  a  Tucker,  from  a  verb  which 
perhaps  meant  once  to  "  tug  "  or  "  twitch."  In  the  follow- 
ing passage  some  manuscripts  have  toukere  for  walkere — 

"And  his  clothis  ben  maad  schyninge  and  white  ful  moche  as 
snow,  and  which  maner  clothis  zfullere,  or  walkere  of  cloth,  may 
not  make  white  on  erthe."    (Wyclif,  Mark,  ix.  2.) 

^  See  quotation  from  Henry  IV.  (p.  155). 


NICKNAMES  179 

The  fuller  is  still  called  Walker  in  Germany.  Banister 
is  a  corruption  of  balestiery  a  cross-bow  man;  of. 
banister  for  baluster  (p.  60). 

Some  of  the  occupative  names  in  -ward  and  -herd 
are  rather  deceptive.  Hayward  means  hedge  ^  guard. 
Howard  is  a  blend  of  Hayzuard  and  Hereward.  The 
first  source  accounts  for  the  frequent  occurrence  of  this 
noble  name.  For  the  social  elevation  of  the  sty-ward^ 
see  p.  90.  Durward  is  door-ward.  The  simple  Ward^ 
replaced  in  its  general  sense  by  warden^  warder^  etc.,  is 
one  of  our  commonest  surnames.  Similarly  Herd^ 
replaced  by  herdsman^  is  borne  as  a  surname  by  one 
who,  if  he  attains  not  to  the  first  three,  is  usually  held 
more  honourable  than  the  thirty.  The  hog-herd  sur* 
vives  as  Hoggart ;  Sezvard  is  sometimes  for  sow-herd; 
Calvert  represents  calf-herd,  and  Stoddart  stot-herd,  i.e.^ 
bullock-herd : — 

'"  Shentlemans  !  *  cried  Andie,  *  Shentlemans,  ye  hielant  stot! 
If  God  would  give  ye  the  grace  to  see  yerseP  the  way  that  ithers 
see  ye,  ye  would  throw  your  denner  up.'"    {Catriona^  Ch.  15.) 

Lambert  is  in  some  cases  lamb-herd,  and  Nutter  is  in 
all  probability  a  perversion  of  neat-herd,  through  the 
North  Country  and  Scot,  nowt-herd.  It  is  a  common 
surname  in  Lancashire,  and  Alice  Nutter  was  one  of 
the  Lancashire  Witches. 

In  a  sense  all  personal  names  are  nicknames  (see  p. 
1 14),  since  they  all  give  that  additional  information  which 
enables  us  to  distinguish  one  person  from  another.  The 
practice  of  giving  nicknames  suggested  by  appearance, 
physique,  or  habits  is  common  to  the  European 
languages ;  but,  on  the  whole,  our  nicknames  compare 
very  unfavourably  with  those  of  savage  nations.  We 
cannot  imagine  an  English  swain  calling  his  lady-love 

'  The  obsolete  hay^  hedge,  is  also  a  common  surname,  Hay^  tiaig^ 
Haigh^  etc. 


180  FAMILY  NAMES 

"Laughing  Water."  From  Roman  times  onwai 
European  nicknames  are  in  their  general  character 
obvious  and  prosaic,  and  very  many  of  them  are 
the  reverse  of  complimentary.  The  most  objection- 
able have  either  disappeared,^  or  the  original  mean- 
ing has  become  so  obscured  as  to  cease  to  give 
offence  to  the  possessor.  When  a  man  had  any 
choice  in  the  matter,  he  naturally  preferred  not 
to  perpetuate  a  grotesque  name  conferred  on  some 
ancestor.  Medieval  names  were  conferred  on  the 
individual,  and  did  not  become  definitely  hereditary 
till  the  Reformation.  In  later  times  names  could 
only  be  changed  by  form  of  law.  ^It  is  thus  that 
Bugg  became  Norfolk  Howard^  a  considerable  trans- 
formation inspired  by  a  natural  instinct  to  "avoid 
the  opinion  of  baseness,"  as  Camden  puts  it.  We 
no  longer  connect  Gosse  with  goose^  nor  Pennefather 
with  a  miser.  Cotgrave  has  pinse-maille  {j)ince-maiUe)^ 
"a  pinch  peny,  scrape-good,  nigard,  miser,  penie- 
father,"  In  Puree  II  we  lose  Old  Fr.  pour  eel  {poureeau)^ 
little  pig,  Fiteh  no  longer  means  a  pole-cat,  nor  Broek 
a  badger.  On  the  other  hand,  we  generally  regard 
Gosling  as  a  nickname,  while  it  is  more  often  a  variant 
of  Joeelyn. 

Names  descriptive  of  appearance  or  habits  often 
correspond  pretty  closely  with  those  that  are  found  in 
French.  In  some  cases  they  are  probably  mere  trans- 
lations. Examples  are:  Merryweather  (Bontemps)^ 
Drinkwater  {Boileau'^\  Armstrong {Fortmbras)^Lzly white 

^  The  following  occur  in  the  index  to  Bardsley's  English  Surnames: — 
Blackinthemouth,  Blubber,  Calyesmawe,  Cleanhog,  Crookbone,  Damned- 
Barebones,  Drunkard,  Felon,  Greenhorn,  Halfpenny,  Hatechrist,  Hogsflesh, 
Killhog,  Leper,  Mad,  Measle,  Milksop,  Outlaw,  Peckcheese,  Peppercorn, 
Poorfish,  Pudding,  Ragman,  Scorchbeef,  Sourale,  Sparewater,  Sweatinbed, 
Twopenny,  Widehose.     Some  of  these  are  still  found. 

*  Cf.  alsQ  Ital.  BevilacqiMt 


FOLK-ETYMOLOGY  181 

{Blanchefleur).  Among  colour  names  we  have  Blacky 
Brown^  White,  and  Grey,  but  seem  to  miss  red.  The 
explanation  is  that  for  this  colour  we  have  adopted 
the  Northern  form  Reid  {Read,  Reed),  or  such  French 
names  as  Rudge  {rouge).  Rouse  {roux),  Russell  {Rousseau). 
With  the  last  of  these,  Old.  Fr.  roussel,  cf.  Brunei  and 
Morel.  Fr.  blond  has  given  Blount,  Blunt,  and  the 
diminutive  Blundell,  which  exist  by  the  side  of  the  fine 
old  English  name  Fairfax,  from  Mid.  Eng.  fax,  hair. 
Several  other  French  adjectives  have  given  us  surnames, 
e.g.,  Boon  {bon),  Bonner  {debonnaire).  Grant  {grand), 
Curtis  {courtois),  Power  {pauvre),  etc.  Payn  is  the 
French  adjective /^^V;^,  pagan,  properly  a  dweller  in  the 
country.     For  the  meaning,  cf.  heathen. 

But  many  apparent  nicknames  are  products  of  folk- 
etymology.  Coward  is  for  cowherd,  Salmon  for  Salomon, 
Bone  for  Boon  (v.s.),  Dedman  is  a  corruption  of  Deben- 
ham.  Playfair  means  play-fellow,  from  an  old  word 
connected  with  the  verb  to  fare,  to  journey.  Patch  may 
sometimes  have  meant  a  jester,  from  his  parti-coloured 
garments,  but  is  more  often  a  variant  of  Pash,  Pask,  a 
baptismal  name  given  to  children  christened  at  Easter, 
Old  Fr.  Pasque  {Pdque).  Easter  eggs  are  still  called 
pash,  pace,  or  paste  eggs  in  the  north  of  England. 
Blood  is  a  Welsh  name,  son  of  Lud ;  cf  Bevan,  Bowen, 
etc.  Coffin  is  Fr.  Chauvin,  a  derivative  of  Lat.  calvus, 
bald.  It  has  a  variant  Caffyn,  the  name  of  a  famous 
cricketer.  Dance,  for  Dans,  is  related  to  Daniel  as  Wills 
is  to  William.  In  the  same  way  Pearce  comes  from 
Peter  or  Pierre.  The  older  form  of  the  name  Pearce 
was  borne  by  the  most  famous  of  ploughmen,  as  it  still 
is  by  the  most  famous  of  soapmakers.  Names  such  as 
Bull,  Peacock,  Greenman,  are  sometimes  from  shop  or 
tavern  signs.  It  is  noteworthy  that,  as  a  surname,  we 
often  find  the  old  form  Pocock.     The  Green  Man,  still 

M  2 


182  FAMILY  NAMES 

a  common  tavern  sign,  represented  a  kind  of  "  wild 
man  of  the  woods  "  ;  cf.  the  Ger.  zum  wilden  Mann. 

In  these  remarks  on  surnames  I  have  only  tried  to 
show  in  general  terms  how  they  come  into  existence, 
"hoping  to  incur  no  offence  herein  with  any  person, 
when  I  protest  in  all  sincerity,  that  I  purpose  nothing 
less  than  to  wrong  any  whosoever  "  (Camden).  Many 
names  are  susceptible  of  alternative  explanations, 
and  it  requires  a  genealogist,  and  generally  some 
imagination,  to  decide  to  which  particular  source  a 
given  family  can  be  traced.  The  two  arguments  some- 
times drawn  from  armorial  bearings  and  medieval  Latin 
forms  are  worthless.  Names  existed  before  escutcheons 
and  devices,  and  these  are  often  mere  puns,  e.g,^  the 
Onslow  family,  of  local  origin,  from  Onslow  in  Shropshire, 
has  adopted  the  excellent  vnoiio  festina  lente^  "on  slow." 
The  famous  name  Sacheverell  is  latinised  as  De  Saltu 
CapellcB^  of  the  kid's  leap.  This  agrees  with  the  oldest 
form  Sau-cheverell,  which  might  conceivably  stand  for 
modern  Fr.  saut  du  chevreau^  but  evidence  is  lacking. 
The  fact  that  Napier  of  Merchiston  had  for  his  device 
fi!a  pier^  no  equal,  does  not  make  it  any  the  less  true 
that  his  ancestors  were,  like  Perkin  Warbeck's  parents, 
"  really,  respectable  people  "  (see  p.  57). 

Dr  Brewer,  in  his  Dictionary  of  Phrase  and  Fable^ 
says  of  his  own  name — 

"This  name,  which  exists  in  France  as  Bruhi^re  and  Brugi^re, 
is  not  derived  from  the  Saxon  briwan  (to  brew),  but  the  French 
bruylre  (heath),  and  is  about  tantamount  to  the  German  Planta- 
genet  (broom  plant)." 

A  "  German "  Plantagenet  should  overawe  even  a 
Norfolk  Howard.  A  more  interesting  identification, 
and  a  true  one,  is  that  of  the  name  of  the  great  engineer 
Telford,  a  corruption  of  Telfer,  with  Taillefer^  the  "iron 
cleaver." 


DAFT  183 

A  curious  feature  in  nomenclature  is  the  local 
character  of  some  nicknames.  We  have  an  instance 
of  this  in  the  Notts  name  Daft^ — 

"A  Daft  might  have  played  in  the  Notts  County  Eleven  in 
1273  as  well  as  in  1886."    (Bardsley.) 

The  only  occurrence  of  the  name  in  the  Hundred  Rolls 
for  the  year  1273  is  in  the  county  of  Notts. 

*  This  word  has  degenerated.     It  is  a  doublet  of  deft. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

ETYMOLOGICAL  FACT  AND   FICTION 

Romance  and  Germanic  etymology  dates  from  the 
middle  of  the  19th  century,  and  is  associated  especially 
with  the  names  of  two  great  Germans,  Friedrich  Diez, 
who  published  his  Worterbuch  der  romanischen  Sprachen 
in  1853,  and  Jakob  Grimm,  whose  Deutsches  Worterbuch 
dates  from  1852.  These  two  men  applied  in  their 
respective  fields  of  investigation  the  principles  of 
comparative  philology,  and  reduced  to  a  science  what 
had  previously  been  an  amusement  for  the  learned  or 
the  ignorant. 

Men  have  always  been  fascinated  by  word-lore. 
The  Greeks  and  Romans  played  with  etymology  in  a 
somewhat  metaphysical  fashion,  a  famous  example  of 
which  is  the  derivation  of  lucus  a  non  lucendo.  Medieval 
writers  delight  in  giving  amazing  information  as  to  the 
origin  of  the  words  they  use.  Their  method,  which  may 
be  called  learned  folk-etymology,  consists  in  attempting 
to  resolve  an  unfamiliar  word  into  elements  which  give 
a  possible  interpretation  of  its  meaning.  Thus  Philippe 
de  Thaiin,  who  wrote  a  kind  of  verse  encyclopedia  at 
the  beginning  of  the  12th  century,  derives  the  French 
names  of  the  days  of  the  week  as  follows :  lundi^  day  of 
light  {lumiere)^  mardi^  day  of  toil  or  martyrdom 
{niartyre)^  mercredi^  day  of  market  (marcli/)^  jeudi^  day 

184 


EARLY  ETYMOLOGISTS  185 

of  joy  {joie\  vendredi^  day  of  truth  {y^rit^,  samedi,  day 
of  sowing  (semence).  Here  we  perhaps  have,  not  so 
much  complete  ignorance,  as  the  desire  to  be  edifying, 
which  is  characteristic  of  the  medieval  etymologists. 

Playful  or  punning  etymology  also  appears  very 
early.  Wace,  whose  Roman  de  Rou  dates  from  about 
the  middle  of  the  12th  century,  gives  the  correct  origin 
of  the  word  Norman — 

"  Justez  {put)  ensemble  north  et  man 
Et  ensemble  dites  northman." 

But  he  also  records  the  libellous  theory  that  Normendie 
comes  from  north  mendie  (begs).  We  cannot  always 
say  whether  an  early  etymology  is  serious  or  not,  but 
many  theories  which  were  undoubtedly  meant  for  jokes 
have  been  quite  innocently  accepted  by  comparatively 
modern  writers.^ 

The  philologists  of  the  Renaissance  period  were 
often  very  learned  men,  but  they  had  no  knowledge  of 
the  phonetic  laws  by  which  sound  change  is  governed. 
Nor  were  they  aware  of  the  existence  of  Vulgar  Latin, 
which  is,  to  a  much  greater  extent  than  classical  Latin, 
the  parent  of  the  Romance  languages.  Sometimes  a 
philologist  had  a  pet  theory  which  the  facts  were  made 
to  fit.     Hellenists  like  Henri  Estienne  believed  in  the 

^  The  following  "  etymologies "  occur,  in  the  same  list  with  a  number 
which  are  quite  correct,  in  a  16th-century  French  author,  Tabourot  des 
Accords : — 

Bonnet^  de  bon  et  «<?/,  pource  que  rornement  de  la  teste  doit  estre  tel. 

Chapeau^  quasi,  eschappe  eau  ;  aussi  anciennement  ne  le  souloit  on  porter 
que  par  les  champs  en  temps  de  pluye. 

Chemise^  quasi,  sur  chair  mise» 

Velours ^  quasi,  velu  ours. 

Galant^  quasi,  gay  allant. 

Menestriery  quasi,  meine  esirier  des  espousdes. 

Orgueily  quasi,  orde  gueule, 

Noise^  vient  de  nois  (noix)^  qui  font  noise  et  bruit  port^es  ensemble. 

Parlementy  pource  qu'on  y  parle  et  ment ! 


186    ETYMOLOGICAL  FACT  AND  FICTION 

Greek  origin  of  the  French  language,  and  P^rion  even 
derived  maison  from  the  Gk.  oikov  (oiKog,  a  house) 
by  the  simple  method  of  prefixing  an  m.  At  other 
periods  there  have  been  Celtomaniacs,  ie.,  scholars  who 
insisted  on  the  Celtic  origin  of  French. 

The  first  English  etymological  dictionary  which  aims 
at  something  like  completeness  is  the  Guide  into  the 
Tongues  of  John  Minsheu,  published  in  1617.  This 
attempts  to  deal  not  only  with  English,  but  with  ten 
other  languages.  It  contains  a  great  deal  of  learning, 
much  valuable  information  for  the  student  of  Tudor 
literature,  and  some  amazing  etymologies.  "To 
purloined  or  get  privily  away,"  is,  says  Minsheu,  "a 
metaphor  from  those  that  picke  the  fat  of  the  loines^ 
Parmacetiy  a  corruption  of  spermaceti — 

"  And  telling  me,  the  sovereign'st  thing  on  earth 
Was  parmaceti  for  an  inward  bruise. 

(i  Henry  IV. ^  i.  3.) 

he  derives  from  Parma,  which  has  given  its  name  to 
parmesan  cheese.  On  the  word  cockney'^  he  waxes 
anecdotic,  always  a  fatal  thing  in  an  etymologist — 

*  "Cockney^  or  cockny^  applied  only  to  one  borne  within  the 
%ound  of  Bow-bell,  that  is,  within  the  City  of  London,  which 
tearme  came  first  out  of  this  tale :  That  a  cittizens  sonne  riding 
with  his  father  out  of  London  into  the  country,  and  being  a  novice 
and  meerely  ignorant  how  come  or  cattell  increased,  asked,  when 
he  heard  a  horse  neigh^  what  the  horse  did  ;  his  father  answered, 
the  horse  doth  neigh;  riding  farther  he  heard  a  cocke  crow,  and 
said,  doth  the  cocke  neigh  too  ? " 

Moliere  often  makes  fun  of  the  etymologists  of  his 
time  and  has  rather  unfairly  caricatured,  as  Vadius  in 

^  Old  Fr.  pourloignier^  to  remove  ;  cf .  Eloigner. 

*  A  very  difl&cult  word.  Befce  it  was  applied  to  a  Londoner  it  meant  a 
milksop.  It  is  thus  used  by  Chaucer.  Cooper  renders  delicias facer e^  "to 
play  the  wanton,  to  dally,  to  play  the  cockney"  In  this  sense  it  corresponds 
to  Fr.  acoquiniy  made  into  a  coquin^  **  made  tame,  inward,  familiar  ;  also, 
growne  as  lazy,  sloathful,  idle,  as  a  beggar  "  (Cotgrave). 


EARLY  ETYMOLOGISTS  187 

Les  Femmes  savantes,  the  great  scholar  Gilles  Manage, 
whose  Dictionnaire  Hymologique^  published  in  1650,  was 
long  a  standard  work.  Moli^re's  mockery  and  the 
fantastic  nature  of  some  of  Menage's  etymologies  have 
combined  to  make  him  a  butt  for  the  ignorant,  but 
it  may  be  doubted  whether  any  modern  scholar, 
using  the  same  implements,  could  have  done  better 
work.  For  Manage  the  one  source  of  the  Romance 
languages  was  classical  Latin,  and  every  word  had 
to  be  traced  to  a  Latin  word  of  suitable  form  or 
sense.  Thus  Fr.  haricot  ^  is  connected  by  him  with  Lat 
faba,  a  bean,  via  the  conjectural  "forms"  *fabarius^ 
*fabaricus^  *fabaricotus,  *faricotus,  ^haricotus,  a  method 
to  which  no  problem  is  insoluble.^  He  suggests  that 
Fr.  geindrCy  or  gindref  baker's  man,  comes  from  Lat. 
gener^  son-in-law,  because  the  baker's  man  always 
marries  the  baker's  daughter ;  but  this  practice,  common 
though  it  may  be,  is  not  of  sufficiently  unfailing 
regularity  to  constitute  a  philological  law.  Perhaps 
his  greatest  achievement  was  the  derivation  of  Span. 
alfana,^  a  mare,  from  Lat.  equus^  a  horse,  which  inspired 
a  well-known  epigram — 

"  Alfana  vient  ^equus^  sans  doute, 
Mais  il  faut  avouer  aussi 
Qu'en  venant  de  Ik  jusqu'ici 
II  a  bien  change  sur  la  route." 

These  examples  show  that  respect  for  Menage  need 
not  prevent  his  work  from  being  a  source  of  innocent 
merriment.     But  the    above    epigram   loses   some    of 

^  Origin  quite  unknown. 

2  "  Sache  que  le  mot  galant  homme  vient  d.'Slegant ;  prenant  le  g  et  Va  de 
la  derni^re  syllabe,  cela  fait  ga,  et  puis  prenant  /,  ajoutant  un  a  et  les  deux 
dernier es  lettres,  cela  fait  galant,  et  puis  ajoutant  homme^  cela  fait  galant 
homme."     (}Jlo\\hxe,  Jalousie  du  BarhouilU^  sc^ne  3.) 

'  Old  Fr.  joindre,  La.t,  junior. 

*  Of  Arabic  origin. 


188    ETYMOLOGICAL  FACT  AND  FICTION 

its  point  for  modern  philologists,  to  whom  equations 
that  look  equally  fantastic,  e.g.  Eng.  wheel  and  Gk. 
KVKkoq}  are  matters  of  elementary  knowledge.  On 
the  other  hand,  a  close  resemblance  between  words 
of  languages  that  are  not  nearly  related  is  proof 
presumptive,  and  almost  positive,  that  the  words 
are  quite  unconnected.  The  resemblance  between 
Eng.  nut  and  Ger.  Nuss  is  the  resemblance  of  first 
cousins,  but  the  resemblance  of  both  to  Lat.  nux 
is  accidental.  Even  in  the  case  of  languages  that 
are  near  akin,  it  is  not  safe  to  jump  to  conclusions. 
The  Greek  cousin  of  Lat.  deus  is  not  0eo9,  God,  but 
Zeu9,  Jupiter. 

An  etymology  that  has  anything  to  do  with  a  person 
or  an  anecdote  is  to  be  regarded  with  suspicion.  For 
both  we  want  contemporary  evidence,  and,  in  the  case 
of  an  anecdote,  we  never,  to  the  best  of  my  knowledge, 
get  it.  In  Chapter  III.  are  a  number  of  instances  of 
words  formed  according  to  authentic  evidence  from 
names  of  persons.  But  the  old-fashioned  etymologist 
will  not  be  denied  his  little  story.  Thus,  in  explanation 
of  spencer  (p.  40),  I  find  in'  a  manual  of  popular  informa- 
tion of  the  last  century ,2  that — 

"  His  Lordship,  when  Lord-lieutenant  of  Ireland,  being  out 
a-hunting,  had,  in  the  act  of  leaping  a  fence,  the  misfortune  to 
have  one  of  the  skirts  of  his  coat  torn  off;  upon  which  his  lordship 
tore  off  the  other,  observing,  that  to  have  but  one  left  was  like  a 
pig  with  one  ear !  Some  inventive  genius  took  the  hint,  and 
having  made  some  of  these  half-coats,  out  of  compliment  to  his 
lordship,  gave  them  the  significant  cognomen  of  Spencer/" 

^  That  is,  they  are  both  descended  from  the  same  Indo-Germanic 
original.  Voltaire  was  thus,  superficially,  right  when  he  described 
etymology  as  a  science  in  which  the  vowels  do  not  count  at  all  and  the 
consonants  very  little. 

2  PulhyrCs  Etymological  Compendium^  3rd  ed.,  revised  and  improved  by 
M.  A.  Thorns  (Tegg  &  Co.,  1853). 


ANECDOTIC  ETYMOLOGY  189 

This  is  what  Pooh-Bah  calls  "corroborative  detail 
intended  to  give  artistic  verisimilitude  to  a  bald  and 
unconvincing  narrative."  From  the  same  authority  we 
learn  that — 

^''Hurly-burly'^  is  said  to  owe  its  origin  to  Hurleigh  and 
Burleigh,  two  neighbouring  families,  that  filled  the  country  around 
them  with  contest  and  violence." 

and  that — 

"  The  word  boh  !  used  to  frighten  children,  was  the  name  of 
Boh,  a  great  general,  the  son  of  Odin,  whose  very  appellation 
struck  immediate  panic  in  his  enemies."  ^ 

The  history  of  chouse  exemplifies  the  same  tendency. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  it  comes  from  a  Turkish  word 
meaning  interpreter,  spelt  chaus  in  Hakluyt  and  chiaus 
by  Ben  Jonson.  The  borrowing  is  parallel  to  that  of 
cozen  (p.  no),  interpreters  having  a  reputation  little 
superior  to  that  of  horse-dealers.  But  a  century  and 
a  half  after  the  introduction  of  the  word  we  come 
across  a  circumstantial  story  of  a  Turkish  chiaus  who 
swindled  some  London  merchants  of  a  large  sum  in 
1609,  the  year  before  Jonson  used  the  word  in  the 
Alchemist.  "Corroborative  detail"  again.  The  story 
may  be  true,  but  there  is  not  an  atom  of  evidence  for 
it,  and  Skinner,  who  suggests  the  correct  derivation  in 
his  Etymologicon  (1671),  does  not  mention  it.  Until 
contemporary  evidence  is  adduced,  the  story  must  be 
regarded  as  one  of  those  fables  which  have  been 
invented  in  dozens  by  early  etymologists,  and  which 
are  perpetuated  in  popular  works  of  reference.  It  is  an 
article  of  faith  in  Yorkshire  that  the  coarse   material 

1  Cf.  Fr.  hurluherlu,  which  occurs  in  Rabelais,  and  in  Rostand's  Cyrano 
tU  Bergerac. 

"^  Tit-BitSy  which  honoured  the  Romance  of  Words  with  a  notice  (8th  June 
1912),  approvingly  quoted  these  three  "  etymologies  "  as  being  seriously 
propounded  by  the  author.    This  is  dramatic  justice. 


190    ETYMOLOGICAL  FACT  AND  FICTION 

called  mungo  owes  its  name  to  the  inventor  of  the 
machine  used  in  its  fabrication,  who,  when  it  stuck  at  a 
first  trial,  exclaimed  with  resolution,  "  It  mun  go" 

Many  stories  have  been  composed  apres  coup  to 
explain  the  American  hoodlum  and  the  Australian 
larrikin^  which  are  both  older  than  our  hooligan  (see 
p.  12).  The  origin  of  hoodlum  is  quite  obscure.  The 
story  believed  in  Australia  with  regard  to  larrikin  is  that 
an  Irish  policeman,  giving  evidence  of  the  arrest  of  a 
rough,  explained  that  the  accused  was  a -larrikin^ 
(larking)  in  the  street,  and  this  was  misunderstood 
by  a  reporter.  But  there  appears  to  be  not  the 
slightest  foundation  for  this  story.  The  word  is 
perhaps  a  diminutive  of  the  common  Irish  name 
Larry^  also  immortalised  in  the  stirring  ballad — 

"  The  night  before  Larry  was  stretched." 

As  I  write,  there  is  a  correspondence  going  on  in 
the  Nottingham  papers  as  to  the  origin  of  the  nickname 
BendigOy  borne  by  a  local  bruiser  and  evangelist,  who 
gave  his  name  to  an  Australian  town  and  a  fur  cap. 
He  was  one  of  triplets,  whom,  according  to  one  account, 
a  jocular  friend  of  the  family  nicknamed  Shadrach, 
Meschach,  and  Abed-Nego^  the  last  of  which  was  the 
future  celebrity.  This  is  quite  plausible,  but  there  is 
no  sound  evidence.  The  rival  theory  is  that,  when  he 
was  playing  in  the  streets  and  his  father  appeared  in 
the  offing,  his  companions  used  to  warn  him  by  crying 
"  Bendy  go  !  "  This  theory  disregards  the  assertion  of 
the  "  oldest  inhabitant "  that  the  great  man  was  never 
called  Bendy,  and  the  fact,  familiar  to  any  observer  of 
the  local  dialect,  that,  even  if  he  had  been  so  called, 
the  form  of  warning  would  have  been,  "  Look  aht, 
Bendy,  yer  daddy's  a-coomen." 

In  the  Supplement  to  Littr6  there  is  an  article  on 


ANECDOTIC  ETYMOLOGY  191 

domino^  in  which  he  points  out  that  investigation  must 
start  from  the  phrase  faire  domino  (see  p.  102).  He 
also  quotes  an  absurd  anecdote  from  a  local  magazine, 
which  professes  to  come  from  a  "vieille  chronique." 
Littr^  naturally  wants  to  know  what  chronicle.  In 
Scheler's  Dictionnaire  Hymologique  (Brussels,  1888),  it 
is  "proved,"  by  means  of  the  same  story  elaborated, 
"que  c'est  1^  la  veritable  origine  du  mot  dont  nous 
parlons." 

In  Brewer's  Dictionary  of  Phrase  and  Fable ^  s.v. 
sirloin,  we  read  that  "it  is  generally  said  that  James  I. 
or  Charles  11.  knighted  the  loin  of  beef,  but  Henry 
VIII.  had  done  so  already."  This  sounds  like  a  deter- 
mination to  get  at  the  root  of  things,  but  does  not  go 
far  enough.  The  word  is  found  in  the  15th  century, 
and  Fr.  surlonge,  from  which  it  comes,  in  the  14th. 
It  is  compounded  of  sur,  over,  and  longe,  a  derivative 
of  Lat.  lumbus,  loin.  The  belief  in  the  knightly  origin  of 
the  sirloin  was  so  strong  that  we  find  it  playfully  called 
the  baronet  {Tom  Jones,  iv.  10).  Hence,  no  doubt,  the 
name  baron  of  beef  for  the  double  sirloin.  Tram  is  per- 
sistently connected  with  a  Mr  Outram,  who  flourished 
about  1800.  This  is  another  case  of  intelligent  anticipa- 
tion, for  the  word  is  found  in  1555.  It  means  log  or 
beam,  and  was  probably  first  applied  to  a  log-road 
laid  across  bad  ground,  what  is  called  in  America 
a  "corduroy"  road.  On  the  other  hand,  the  obvious 
and  simple  derivation  of  beef-eater,  i.e.  a  man  who  is  in 
the  enviable  position  of  being  sure  of  his  daily  allow- 
ance,^   has    been    obscured    by  the    invention    of   an 

*  The  following  explanation,  given  in  Midge's  French  Dictionary  (1688), 
is  perhaps  not  far  wrong :  "  C'est  ainsi  qu'on  appelle  par  derision  les 
Yeomen  of  the  Guard  dans  la  cour  d'Angleterre,  qui  sont  des  gardes  ^  peu 
prfes  comme  les  cent  Suisses  en  France.  Et  on  leur  donne  ce  nom-lk,  parce 
qu'  ^  la  cour  ils  no  vivent  que  de  boeuf:  par  opposition  k  ces  colleges 
d'Angleterre,  oti  les  dcolicrs  ne  mangent  que  du  mouton." 


192    ETYMOLOGICAL  FACT  AND  FICTION 

imaginary   Fr.   *  beaufetier^  waiter   at    the    side-board^ 

Professor  Skeat  attributes  the  success  ojf  this  myth  tc 

its   inclusion   in    Mrs  Markham's  History  of  England! 

\  But  the  most  indestructible  of  all  these  superstitions 

\  is  connected  with   the  word   cabal.     It  comes  from  a 

/  Hebrew  word  meaning  hidden  mystery,  and  is  found 

\  in   the  chief  Romance    languages.     The    word    is    ol 

frequent   occurrence  in  English  long  before  the   date 

of  Charles  II.'s  acrostic  ministry ,i  though  its  modern 

meaning  has  naturally  been  affected  by  this   historic 

connection. 

Even  anecdotic  etymologies  accepted  by  the  most 
cautious  modern  authorities  do  not  always  inspire 
complete  confidence.  Martinet  is  supposed  to  come 
from  the  name  of  a  well-known  French  officer  whc 
re-organised  the  French  infantry  about  1670.  But  we 
find  it  used  by  Wycherley  in  1676,  about  forty  yean 
before  Martinet's  death.  Moreover  this  applicatior 
of  the  name  is  unknown  in  French,  which  has,  howeverj 
a  word  martinet  meaning  a  kind  of  cat-o'-nine-tails.  Ii 
English  martinet  means  the  leech-line  of  a  sail,  hence, 
possibly,  rope's  end,  and  Wycherley  applies  the  term  to 
a  brutal  sea-captain.  The  most  renowned  of  carriers 
is  probably  Hobson,  of  Cambridge.  He  was  sung  by 
Milton,  and  bequeathed  to  the  town  Hobson's  conduit 
which  cleanses  the  Cambridge  gutters.  To  him  is 
also  ascribed  the  phrase  Hobson's  choice^  from  his  custom 
of  refusing  to  let  out  his  horses  except  in  strict  rotation. 
But  we  find  a  merchant  venturer,  living  in  Japan, 
using  '■^ Hodgson's'  choice"   fourteen    years   before   the 

*  An  acrostic  of  this  kind  would  have  no  point  if  it  resulted  in  a 
meaningless  word.  In  the  same  way  the  Old  Fr.  Fauvel^  whence  our  curry 
favour  (see  p.  131),  has  a  medieval  explanation  of  the  acrostic  kind.  Iti« 
supposed  to  be  formed  from  the  initial  letters  of  the  vices  Flatter ie^  Avarice^ 
Vilenit,  Varie'te,  Fnvie,  Ldcheti, 


BACK-FORMATIONS  193 

carrier  left  this  world  and  became  a  legendary  figure— 

"  We  are  put  to  Hodgso^is  choise  to  take  such  previlegese  as 
they  will  geve  us,  or  else  goe  without."  {Correspondence  of 
Richard  Cocks ^  Oct.  1 6 1 7 . ) 

The  most  obvious  etymology  needs  to  be  proved  up 
to  the  hilt,  and  the  process  is  rich  in  surprises. 
Cambridge  appears  to  be  the  bridge  over  the  Cam, 
But  the  river's  older  name,  which  it  preserves  above 
the  town,  is  the  Granta,  and  Bede  calls  the  town  itself 
Grantacester.  Camden,  in  his  Britannia  (trad.  Holland, 
1637),  notes  that  the  county  was  called  "in  the  English 
Saxon  "  Grentbrigseyre^  and  comments  on  the  double 
name  of  the  river.  Nor  can  he  "easily  beleeve  that 
Grant  was  turned  into  Cam;  for  this  might  seeme  a 
deflexion  some  what  too  hardly  streined,  wherein 
all  the  letters  but  one  are  quite  swallowed  up." 
Grantabrigge  became,  by  dissimilation  (see  p.  57), 
Gantabrigge,  Cantabrigge  (cf.  Cantab)^  Cantbrigge,  and,  by 
assimilation  (see  p.  56),  Cambridge,  the  river  being 
rechristened  from  the  name  of  the  town. 

A  beggar  is  not  etymologically  one  who  begs,  or  a 
cadger  one  who  cadges.  In  each  case  the  verb  is 
evolved  from  the  noun.  About  the  year  1200  Lambert 
le  Begue,  the  Stammerer,  is  said  to  have  founded  a 
religious  order  in  Belgium.  The  monks  were  called  after 
him  in  medieval  Latin  beghardi  and  the  nuns  beghince. 
The  Old  Fr.  begard  passed  into  Anglo-F'rench  with 
the  meaning  of  mendicant  and  gave  our  beggar.  From 
beguine  we  get  biggin,  a  sort  of  cap — 

"  Sleep  with  it  (the  crown)  now  I 
Yet  not  so  sound,  and  half  so  deeply  sweet, 
As  he,  whose  brow  with  homely  biggin  bound, 
Snores  out  the  watch  of  night." 

(2  Henry  IV.,  iv.  4.) 

Cadger,  or  rather  its  Scottish  form  c<2^^^r,  a  pedlar, occurs 

N 


194    ETYMOLOGICAL  FACT  AND  FICTION 

about  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  earlier  than  the  verb  to 
cadge.  We  find,  noted  as  foreign  words,  in  16th-century 
Dutch,  the  words  cagie^  a  basket  carried  on  the  back, 
and  cagiaerd,  one  who  carries  such  a  basket.  These 
must  be  of  French  origin,  and  come,  like  the  obsolete 
Eng.  cadge}  a  panier,  from  cage^  for  the  history  of  which 
see  p.  109.  Cadger  is  used  in  Scottish  of  an  itinerant 
fish  merchant  with  his  goods  carried  in  paniers  by 
a  pony — 

"  Or  die  a  cadger  pownie's  death, 
At  some  dyke-back." 

(Burns,  Epistle  to  J.  Lapraik,)^ 

\  Tobacco  does  not  take  its  name  from  the  island  of 
I  Tobago,  but  from  the  native  name  of  the  tube  through 
?  which  the  Caribs  smoked  it. 

The  traditional  derivation  of  vaunt  is  from  Fr. 
vantery  and  this  from  a  late  Lat.  vanitare^  to  talk  emptily, 
used  by  St  Augustine.  This  looks  very  simple,  but 
the  real  history  of  these  words  is  most  complicated. 
In  Mid.  English  we  regularly  find  avaunty  which  comes 
from  Old  Fr.  avanter,  to  put  forward,  from  avanty 
before.  This  gets  mixed  up  during  the  Tudor  period 
with  another  vaunt  from  Fr.  vanter^  to  extol,  the 
derivation  of  which  can  only  be  settled  when  its  earliest 
form  is  ascertained.  At  present  we  find  venter  as  early 
as  vantery  and  this  would  represent  Lat.  venditare 
(frequentative  of  venderCy  to  sell),  to  push  one's  goods, 
"  to  do  anything  before  men  to  set  forth  himselfe  and 
have  a  prayse;  to  vaunt ;  to  crake  ;  to  brag"  (Cooper). 

^  There  is  also  a  word  cadge^  explained  in  the  glossary  to  a  book  on 
falconry  (1615)  as  a  kind  of  frame  on  which  an  itinerant  vendor  ef  hawks 
carried  his  birds.  But  it  is  unrecorded  in  literature  and  labours  under  the 
suspicion  of  being  a  ghost- word.  Its  first  occurrence,  outside  the  diction* 
aries,  is,  I  believe,  in  Mr  Hewlett's  Song  of  Renny^  just  published — "  the 
nominal  service  of  a  pair  of  gerfalcons  yearly,  in  golden  hoods,  upon 
a  golden  cadge  "  (Ch.  i). 


ETYMOLOGICAL  TESTS  195 

A  sound  etymology  must  fulfil  three  conditions. 
It  must  not  violate  the  recognised  laws  of  sound  change. 
The  development  of  meaning  must  be  clearly  traced. 
This  must  start  from  the  earliest  or  fundamental  sense 
of  the  word.  It  goes  without  saying  that  in  modern  cor- 
ruptions we  are  sometimes  faced  by  cases  which  it 
would  be  difficult  to  explain  phonetically  (see  p.  136). 
There  are,  in  fact,  besides  the  general  phonetic  and 
semantic  laws,  a  number  of  obscure  and  accidental 
influences  at  work  which  are  not  yet  codified.  As 
we  have  seen  (p.  188),  complete  apparent  dissimilarity 
of  sound  and  sense  need  not  prevent  two  words  from 
being  originally  one  ^ ;  but  we  have  to  trace  them  both 
back  until  dissimilarity  -  becomes  first  similarity  and 
then  identity. 

The  word  peruse  meant  originally  to  wear  out.  Old 
Yx.  par-user.  In  the  i6th  century  it  means  to  sort  or 
sift,  especially  herbs,  and  hence  to  scrutinise  a  docu- 
ment, etc.  But  between  the  earliest  meaning  and  that 
of  sifting  there  is  a  gap  which  no  ingenuity  can  bridge, 
and,  until  this  is  done,  we  are  not  justified  in  regard- 
ing the  vciod^^xn  peruse  as  identical  with  the  earlier.^ 

The  maxim  of  Jakob  Grimm,  "  von  den  Wortern  zu 
den  Sachen,"  is  too  often  neglected.     In  dealing  with 

^  This  seems  to  have  been  realised  by  the  author  of  the  Etymological 
Compendium  (see  p.  1 88,  «.  2),  who  tells  us  that  the  "term  swallow  is 
derived  from  the  French  hirondelle^  signifying  indiscriminately  voracious, 
literally  a  marshy  place,  that  absorbs  or  swallows  what  comes  within  its 
vortex." 

^  It  is  much  more  likely  that  it  originated  as  a  misunderstanding  of 
pervise^  to  survey,  look  through,  earlier  printed  peruise.  We  have  a 
similar  misunderstanding  in  the  name  Alured^  for  Alvred,  i.e.  Alfred, 
The  influence  of  spelling  upon  sound  is,  especially  in  the  case  of  words 
which  are  more  often  read  than  heard,  greater  than  is  generally  realized. 
MoHt  English  people  pronounce  a  -a-  in  names  like  Dalziel^  Mackenzie^ 
Menzies,  etc.,  whereas  this  z  is  really  a  modem  printer's  substitution  for  an 
old  symbol  which  had  nearly  the  sound  of  >'  {Dalyell^  etc.). 


196     ETYMOLOGICAL  FACT  AND  FICTION 

the  etymology  of  a  word  which  is  the  name  of  an  object 
or  of  an  action,  we  must  first  find  out  exactly  what  the 
original  object  looked  like  or  how  the  original  action 
was  performed.  The  etymologist  must  either  be  an 
antiquary  or  must  know  where  to  go  for  sound 
antiquarian  information.  I  will  illustrate  this  by  three 
words  denoting  objects  used  by  medieval  or  Elizabethan 
fighting  men. 

A  fencing /^27  is  sometimes  vaguely  referred  to  the 
verb  foil^  to  baffle,  with  which  it  has  no  connection. 
The  Fr.  feuille^  leaf,  is  also  invoked,  and  compared 
with  Yx.fleuret^  a  foil,  the  idea  being  that  the  name  was 
given  to  the  "  button  "  at  the  point.  Now  the  earliest 
foils  and  fleurets  were  not  buttoned  ;  first,  because  they 
were  pointless,  and  secondly,  because  the  point  was  not 
used  in  early  fencing.  It  was  not  until  gunpowder 
began  to  bring  about  the  disuse  of  heavy  armour  that 
anybody  ever  dreamt  of  thrusting.  The  earliest  fencing 
was  hacking  with  sword  and  buckler,  and  the  early  foil 
was  a  rough  sword-blade  quite  unlike  the  implement  we 
now  use.  Fleuret  meant  in  Old  French  a  sword-blade 
not  yet  polished  and  hilted,  and  we  find  it  used,  as  we 
do  Eng.  y<?//,  of  an  apology  for  a  sword  carried  by  a' 
gallant  very  much  down  at  heel.  As  late  as  Cotgrave 
we  ^nA  floret^  "a  foile ;  a  sword  with  ♦  the  edge  rebated." 
Therefore  foil  is  the  same  as  Fr.  feuille}  which  in  Old 
French  meant  sword-blade,  and  is  still  used  for  the 
blade  of  a  saw ;  but  the  name  has  nothing  to  do  with 
what  did  not  adorn  the  tip.  It  is  natural  that  Fr. 
feuille  should  be  applied,  like  Eng.  leaf  blade^  to  any- 
thing flat  (cf  Ger.  Blatty  leaf),  and  we  find  in  16th- 
century  Dutch  the  borrowed  word  folie,  used  in  the 
three  senses  of  leaf,  metal  plate,  broadsword,  which  is 
conclusive. 

^  And  therefore  identical  with  ihe/ot!  of  tinfoil^  counterfoil^  etc. 


PETRONEL  197 

We  find  frequent  allusions  in  the  i6th  and  17th 
centuries  to  a  weapon  called  a  petronel^  a  flint-lock  fire- 
arm intermediate  in  size  between  an  arquebus  and  a 
pistol.     It  occurs  several  times  in  Scott — 

"Tvvas  then  I  fired  my  petronel^ 
And  Mortham,  steed  and  rider  fell." 

{Rokeby,  i.  19.) 

On  the  strength  ot  a  French  ioxm, poitrinal,  it  has  been' 
connected  with  Fr.  poitrine^  chest,  and  various  explana- 
tions are  given.  The  earliest  is  that  of  the  famous 
Huguenot  surgeon  Ambroise  Par6,  who  speaks  of  the 
"mousquets  poitrinals^  que  Ton  ne  couche  en  joue,  a 
cause  de  leur  calibre  gros  et  court,  mais  qui  se  tirent  de 
lapoitrine"  I  cannot  help  thinking  that,  if  the  learned 
author  had  attempted  this  method  of  discharging  an 
early  firearm,  his  anatomical  experience,  wide  as  it  was, 
would  have  been  considerably  enlarged.  Minsheu 
(1617)  describes  a /^/r^«^// as  "  a  horseman's  peece  first 
used  in  the  Pyrenean  mountaines,  which  hanged  them 
alwayes  at  their  breast^  readie  to  shoote,  as  they  doe  now 
at  the  horse's  breast."  This  information  is  derived  from 
Claude  Fauchet,  whose  interesting  Antiquith  franqoises 
et  gauloises  were  published  in  1579.  Phillips,  in  his 
New  World  of  Words  (1678)  tells  us  that  this  "kind  of 
harquebuse,  or  horseman's  piece,  is  so  called,  because  it 
is  to  aim  at  a  horse's  brest^  as  it  were  poictronel."  When 
we  turn  from  fiction  to  fact,  we  find  that  the  oldest  French 
name  wd^s p^trinal^  explained  by  Cotgrave  as  "  dipetronell, 
or  horse-man's  peece."  It  was  occasionally  corrupted, 
perhaps  owing  to  the  way  in  which  the  weapon  was  slung, 
into poitrinal.  This  corruption  would  be  facilitated  by  the 
16th-century  pronunciation  of  ^/ (p^/trine).  The  French 
word  is  borrowed  either  from  Ital.  petronello^  pietronello^ 
"  a   petronell "   (Florio),   or    from    Span,   pedreflal^  "  a 

N  2 


198     ETYMOLOGICAL  FACT  AND  FICTION 

peironall^  a  horse-man's  peece,  ita  diet,  quod  silice  petra 
incenditur  "  (Minsheu,  Spanish  Dictionary^  1623).  Thus 
Minsheu  knew  the  origin  of  the  word,  though  he  had 
put  the  fiction  in  his  earlier  work.  We  find  other  forms 
in  ItaHan  and  Spanish,  but  they  all  go  back  to  Ital. 
pietra,  pelra^  or  Span,  piedra^  pedra^  stone,  flint.  The 
usual  Spanish  word  for  flint  is  pedernal.  Our  word,  as 
its  form  shows,  came  direct  from  Italian.^  The  new 
weapon  was  named  from  its  chief  feature ;  cf.  Ger. 
Flinte,  "a  light  gun,  a  hand-gun,  pop-gun,  arquebuss, 
fire-arm,  fusil  or  fusee  "  ^  (Ludwig).  The  substitution 
of  the  flint-lock  for  the  old  match-lock  brought  about  a 
re-naming  of  European  fire-arms,, and,  as  this  substitu- 
tion was  first  effected  in  the  cavalry,  petronel  acquired 
the  special  meaning  of  horse-pistol.  It  is  curious  that, 
while  we  find  practically  all  the  French  and  Italian  fire- 
arm names  in  17th-century  German,  a  natural  result  of 
the  Thirty  Years'  War,  petronel  does  not  appear  to  be 
recorded.  The  reason  is  probably  that  the  Germans 
had  their  own  name,  viz.,  Schnapphahn^  snap-cock,  the 
English  form  of  which,  snaphaunce^  seems  also  to  have 
prevailed  ov^x  petronel.  Cotgrave  has  arquebuse  a  fusil^ 
"  a  snaphaunce"  and  explains  fusil  as  "  a  fire-steele  for  a 
tinder-box."  This  is  medieval  Lat.  focile,  from  focus, 
fire,  etc. 

The  most  general  name  for  a  helmet  up  to  about 
1450  was  basnet,  or  bacinet.  This,  as  its  name  implies 
(see  p.  156),  was  a  basin-shaped  steel  cap  worn  by  fight- 
ing men  of  all  ranks.     The  knights  and  nobles  wore  it 

^  It  is  a  diminutive  of  some  word  which  appears  to  be  unrecorded  (c/^ 
Fr.  pistolet  for  the  obsolete  pistole),  Charles  Reade,  whose  archaeology  is 
very  sound,  makes  Denys  of  Burgundy  say,  '^  Fetrone  nor  harquebuss  shall 
ever  put  down  Sir  Arbalest "  (^Cloister  and  Hearth,  Ch.  24)  ;  but  I  can 
find  no  other  authority  for  the  word. 

'  This  word  occurs  in  Robinson  Crusoe. 


HELMETS  199 

under  their  great  ornamental  helms.^  The  basnet  itself 
was  perfectly  plain.  About  the  end  of  the  i6th  century 
the  usual  English  helmets  were  the  burgonet  and 
morion?  These  were  often  very  decorative,  as  may  be 
seen  by  a  visit  to  any  collection  of  old  armour.  Spenser 
speaks  of  a  "  guilt  engraven  morion  "  {Faerie  Queene,  vii. 
7).  Between  the  basnet  and  these  reigned  the  salet  or 
salade,  on  which  Jack  Cade  puns  execrably — 

"  Wherefore,  on  a  brick  wall  have  I  climbed  into  this  garden, 
to  see  if  I  can  eat  grass,  or  pick  a  sallet  another  while,  which  is 
not  amiss  to  cool  a  man's  stomach  this  hot  weather.  And  I  think 
this  word  sallet  was  born  to  do  me  good,  for  many  a  time,  but  for 
a  sallet^  my  brain-pan  had  been  cleft  with  a  brown-bill." 

(2  Henry  F/.,  iv.  10.) 

It  comes,  through  Fr.  salade,  from  Ital.  celata,  "  a  scull,  a 
helmet,  a  morion,  a  saUat,  a  headpiece  "  (Florio).  The 
etymologists  of  the  17th  century,  familiar  with  the 
appearance  of  "guilt  engraven  morions,"  connected  it 
with  Lat.  ccelare,  to  engrave,  and  this  derivation  has 
been  repeated  ever  since  without  examination.  Now 
in  the  Tower  of  London  Armoury  is  a  large  collection 
of  salets^  and  these,  with  the  exception  of  one  or  two 
late  German  specimens  from  the  ornate  period,  are 
plain  steel  caps  of  the  simplest  form  and  design.  The 
salet  was,  in  fact,  the  basnet  slightly  modified,  worn  by 
the  rank  and  file  of  15th-century  armies,  and  probably, 

*  Over  the  tomb  of  the  Black  Prince  in  Canterbury  Cathedral  hangs 
his  cumbrous  tilting  helmet.  But  the  magnificent  recumbent  bronze  eflfigy 
below  represents  him  in  his  fighting  kit,  basnet  on  head. 

'^  Burgonet^  Fr.  bourguignotte,  is  supposed  to  mean  Burgundian  helmet. 
The  origin  of  morion  is  unknown,  but  its  use  by  Scott  in  Ivanhoe — "I  have 
twice  or  thrice  noticed  the  glance  of  a  morrion  from  amongst  the  green 
leaves."  (Ch.  40)— is  an  anachronism  by  four  centuries.  Both  words  are 
used  vaguely  as  general  names  for  helmet. 


200    ETYMOLOGICAL  FACT  AND  FICTION 

like  the  basnet,  worn  under  the  knight's  tilting  helm. 
There  is  no  Italian  verb  celare,  to  engrave,  but  there  is 
a  very  common  verb  celare,  to  conceal.  A  steel  cap  was 
also  called  in  Italian  secreta,  "  a  thinne  Steele  cap,  or  close 
skull,  worne  under  a  hat "  (Florio),  and  in  Old  French 
segrette,  "an  yron  skull,  or  cap  of  fence"  (Cotgrave). 
Both  words  are  confirmed  by  Duez,  who,  in  his  Italian' 
French  Dictionary  (1660),  has  secreta,  "  une  secrette,  ou 
segrette,  un  morion,  une  bourguignotte,  armure  de  teste 
pour  les  picquiers."  Ergo,  the  salet  belongs  to  Lat. 
celare,  to  hide,  secrete. 

We  now  caulk  a  ship  by  forcing  oakum  into  the 
seams.  Hence  the  verb  to  caulk  is  explained  as  coming 
from  Mid.  Eng.  cauken,  to  tread,  Old  Fr.  cauquer^ 
caucher,  Lat.  calcare,  from  calx,  heel.  This  makes  the 
process  somewhat  acrobatic,  although  this  is  not, 
philologically,  a  very  serious  objection.  But  we  caulk 
the  ship  or  the  seams,  not  the  oakum.  Primitive 
caulking  consisted  in  plastering  a  wicker  coracle  with 
clay.  The  earliest  caulker  on  record  is  Noah,  who 
pitched  ^  his  ark  within  and  without  with  pitch.  In  the 
Vulgate  {Genesis,  vi.  14),  ^^ pitch  is  called  bitumen  and 
the  verb  is  linere,  "  to  daub,  besmear,  etc."  Next  in 
chronological  order  comes  the  mother  of  Moses, 
who  "took  for  him  an  ark  of  bulrushes,  and  daubed  it 
with  slime  and  with  pitch "  {Exodus,  ii.  3),  bitmnine  ac 
pice  in  the  Vulgate.  Bitumen,  or  mineral  pitch,  was 
regularly  applied  to  this  purpose,  even  by  Elizabethan 
seamen.  Failing  this,  anything  sticky  and  unctuous 
was  used,  eg.,  clay  or  lime.  Lime  now  means  usually 
oxide  calcium,  but  its  original  sense  is  anything 
viscous;  cf.  Ger.  Leini,  glue,  and  our  h\x^4ime.  The 
oldest  example  of  the  verb  to  caulk  is  about  1500.     In 

^  See  pay  (p.  i6o).     It  will  be  found  that  all  verbs  of  this  nature  are 
formed  from  the  name  of  the  substance  applied. 


GHOST-WORDS  201 

Mid.  English  we  find  to  lime  used  instead,  e.g.,  in 
reference  to  the  ark — 

"  Set  and  limed  agen  the  flood  "  (c.  1250), 
and — 

^^  Lyme  it  with  cleye  and  pitche  within  and  without."  (Caxton, 
1483.) 

Our  caulk  is  in  medieval  Latin  calcare^  and  this  repre- 
sents a  rare  Latin  verb  calicarey  to  plaster  with  lime, 
from  calx^  lime.  Almost  every  language  which  has  a 
nautical  vocabulary  uses  for  our  caulk  a  verb  related 
to  Fr.  calfater.  This  is  of  Spanish  or  Portuguese  origin. 
The  Portuguese  word  is  calafetar^  from  caly  lime,  and 
afeitar^  to  put  in  order,  trim,  etc. 

The  readiness  of  lexicographers  to  copy  from  each 
other  sometimes  leads  to  ludicrous  results.  The  origin 
of  the  word  curmudgeoft  is  quite  unknown  ;  but,  when  Dr 
Johnson  was  at  work  on  his  dictionary,  he  received  from 
an  unknown  correspondent  the  suggestion  that  it  was  a 
corruption  of  Fr.  coeur  mhhant,  wicked  heart.  Accord- 
ingly we  find  in  his  dictionary,  "  It  is  a  vitious  manner 
of  pronouncing  coeur  michant^  Fr.  an  unknown 
correspondent."  John  Ash,  LL.D.,  who  published  a 
very  complete  dictionary  in  1775,  gives  the  derivation 
"from  the  French  coeur ^  unknown,  and  m^chant,  a 
correspondent,"  an  achievement  which,  says  Todd,  "  will 
always  excite  both  in  foreigners  and  natives  a  harmless 
smile!" 

It  is  thus  that  "  ghost-words  "  come  into  existence. 
Every  considerable  English  dictionary,  from  Spelman's 
Glossarium  (1664)  onward,  has  the  entry  abacot,  "a  cap 
of  state,  wrought  up  into  the  shape  of  two  crowns,  worn 
formerly  by  English  kings."  This  **  word  "  will  not  be 
found   in   the   New   English  Dictionary,  the  editor  of 


202    ETYMOLOGICAL  FACT  AND  FICTION 

which  has  laid  this  particular  ghost.^  Abacot  seems 
to  be  a  misprint  or  misunderstanding  for  a  bzcocket,  a 
kind  of  horned  head-dress.  It  corresponds  to  an  Old  Fr. 
bicoquet  and  Span,  bicoquete,  cap,  the  derivation  of  which 
is  uncertain.  Of  somewhat  later  date  is  brooch^  "a 
painting  all  in  one  colour,"  which  likewise  occurs  in  all 
dictionaries  of  the  i8th  and  19th  centuries.  This  is 
due  to  Mi^ge  {French  Diet  1688)  misunderstanding 
Cotgrave.  There  is  a  Fr.  camaieu^  a  derivative  of 
cameo^  which  has  two  meanings,  viz.,  a  cameo  brooek,  and 
a  monochrome  painting  with  a  cameo  effect.  Miege 
appears  to  have  taken  the  second  meaning  to  be 
explanatory  of  the  first,  hence  his  entry — brooeh^ 
"camayeu,  ouvrage  de  peinture  qui  n'est  que  d'une 
couleur."  In  Manwayring's  Seaman's  Dictionary  (1644), 
the  old  word  carvel^  applied  to  a  special  build  of  ship,  is 
misprinted  carnell^  and  this  we  find  persisting,  not  only 
in  the  compilations  of  such  writers  as  Bailey,  Ash,  etc., 
but  even  in  technical  dictionaries  of  the  i8th  century 
"  by  officers  who  serv'd  several  years  at  sea  and  land." 
The  Anglo-Saxon  name  for  the  kestrel  (see  p.  100)  was 
stangella^  stone-yeller  {cf.  nightin^^/<?),  which  appears 
later  as  stonegall  and  staniel.  In  the  i6th  century  we 
find  the  curious  spelling  steingall,  e.g.y  Cooper  explains 
tinnunculus  as  "  a  kistrel,  or  a  kastrell ;  a  steyngallP 
In  Cotgrave  we  find  it  printed  fleingall^  a  form  which 
recurs  in  several  later  dictionaries  of  the  17th  century. 
Hence,  somewhere  between  Cooper  and  Cotgrave,  an 
ornithologist  or  lexicographer  must  have  misprinted 
fleingall  iox  fteingall  by  the  common  mistake  of  ^  iox  ft^ 
and  the  ghost-word  persists  into  the  i8th  century. 

The  difficulty  of  the  etymologist's  task  is  exemplified 
by  the  complete  mystery  which  often  enshrouds  a  word 

1  See   letter  by  Dr   Murray,   afterwards   Sir  James   Murray,   in  the 
Athenaum^  Feb.  4,  1884. 


UNSOLVED  PROBLEMS  203 

of  comparatively  recent  appearance.  A  well-known 
example  is  the  word  Huguenot^  for  which  fifteen 
different  etymologies  have  been  proposed.  We  first 
find  it  used  in  1550,  and  by  1572  the  French  word- 
hunter  Tabourot,  generally  known  as  des  Accords, 
has  quite  a  number  of  theories  on  the  subject.  He  is 
worth  quoting  in  full — 

"  De  nostre  temps  ce  mot  de  Huguenots^  ou  Hiicnots  s'est  ainsi 
intronise  :  quelque  chose  qu'ayent  escrit  quelques-uns,  que  ce  mot 
vient  Gnosticis  hcBreticis  qui  lumitiibus  extiiictis  sacra  faciebant^ 
selon  Crinit :  ou  bien  du  Roy  Hugues  Capet,  ou  de  la  porte  de 
Hugon  k  Tours  par  laquelle  ils  sortoient  pour  aller  k  leur  presche. 
Lors  que  les  pretendus  Reformez  implorerent  I'ayde  des  voix  des 
Allemans,  aussi  bien  que  de  leurs  armees  :  les  Protestans  estans 
venus  parler  en  leur  faveur,  devant  Monsieur  le  Chancelier,  en 
grande  assemblee,  le  premier  mot  que  profera  celuy  qui  portoit  le 
propos,  fut,  Hue  nos  venimus :  Et  apres  estant  presse  d'un  reuthme 
{rkume,  cold)  il  ne  pent  passer  outre ;  tellement  que  le  second  dit 
le  mesme,  Hue  nos  venimus.  Et  les  courtisans  presents  qui 
n'entendoient  pas  telle  prolation  ;  car  selon  la  nostre  ils  prononcent 
Houc  ?ios  veniinous^  estimerent  que  ce  fiissent  quelques  gens  ainsi 
nommez  :  et  depuis  surnommerent  ceux  de  la  Religion  pretendue 
reformee,  Huenos :  en  apres  changeant  C  en  G^  Hugnots^  et  avec 
le  temps  on  a  allonge  ce  mot,  et  dit  Huguenots.  Et  voylk  la  vraye 
source  du  mot,  s'il  n'y  en  a  autre  meilleure."  ^ 

The  only  serious  etymology  is  Ger.  Ezdgenoss,  oath 
companion,  which  agrees  pretty  well  with  the  earliest 
recorded  Swiss  -  French  form,  eigiienoty  in  Bonivard's 
Chronique  de  Geneve. 

The  engineering  term  culvert  first  appears  about 
1800,  and  there  is  not  the  slightest  clue  to  its  origin. 
The  victorious  march  of  the  ugly  word  swank  has  been 
one  of  the  linguistic  phenomena  of  recent  years.  There 
is  a  dialect  word  swank,  to  strut,  which  may  be  related 

1  The  Encyclopctdia  Britannica  does  not  imitate  the  wise  reticence  of 
Tabourot's  saving  clause,  but  pronounces  authoritatively  for  the  portc  dt 
Hugon  fable 


I 


204    ETYMOLOGICAL  FACT  AND  FICTION 


to  the  common  Scottish  word  swankie^  a  strapping 
youth — 

"  I  am  told,  young  swankte^  that  you  are  roaming  the  world  to 
seek  your  fortune."    {Monastery^  Ch.  24.) 

But,  in  spite  of  the  many  conjectures,  plausible  or 
otherwise,  which  have  been  made,  neither  the  etymology 
of  swank  nor  its  sudden  inroad  into  the  modern 
language  are  at  present  explained.  The  word  ogre^ 
first  used  by  Perrault  in  his  Contes  de  Fees  (1697),  has 
occasioned  much  grave  and  learned  speculation.  Perhaps 
the  philologists  of  the  future  may  theorise  as  sapiently 
as  to  the  origin  oi jabberwock  and  bandersnaUh, 


INDEX 


AbACOT,  201 
abet,  77,  n. 
abeyance,  io8 
abominable,  3,  «, 
abominate,  3 
abracadabra,  15,  ».  2 
accomplice,  128,  «, 
acquaint,  78 
acton,  115 
adder,  113 
adjutant,  34,  147 
admiral,  148 
affidavit,  4 
ague,  139 
aitch-bone,  113 
akimbo,  100 
Alabaster,  170 
alarm,  115 
alarum,  115 
albert  chain,  39 
alcade,  115 
alderman,  92 
Aldridge,  171 
Alec,  70 
alert,  115 
alfana,  187 
Alfred  David,  125 
alguazil,  1 15 
alibi,  4 
alley,  69 
alligator,  1 15 
Allman,  173 
allure,  no 
alone,  62 
Alured,  195,  n.  a 
A.M.,  4 
ampersand,  57 
analysis,  6 
ananas y  32,  ».  2 


ancient,  128 
andiron,  115 
Andrea  Ferrara,  50 
anecdotage,  132 
animal,  4 
aniace,  59 
Annabel,  58 
ansatus^  1 00 
antic,  141 
antlers,  99 
ant-lion,  33 
apache^  12 
Apfelsine^  3 1 
appeach,  62 
appendicitis,  ri 
apprentice,  ii8 
apricot,  20 
apron,  57.  "3 
Arabella,  58 
arbour,  133 
arch,  83 
argosy,  50 
aringo,  21 
Arkwright,  176 
arles,  119 
armada,  2 
artnie^  2 
Armitage,  5 
Armstrong,  ] 
aroma,  6 
arquebus,  127 
arrant,  83 
arras,  47 
array,  95,  n. 
arriere-ban  y  72 
artillery,  161,  «. 
assassin,  22 
assegai,  25 
asset,  116 


[80 


206 


INDEX 


assize,  62 
assoil,  10 
astonish,  ic6 
astound,  106 
Atkin,  171 
atlas,  6 
atomy,  62 
atout,  9 

Atterbury,  172 
At  wood,  172 
auberge,  1 33,  1 64 
Aubray,  174 
Augensprosse,  99 
auger,  113 
avers,  143 
avoirdupois,  143,  n, 
ayah,  26 

Bacchus,  170 
'baccy,  66 
bacinet,  198 
bachelor's  buttons,  30 
backgammon,  158 
hadaud,  1 08,  n.  I  • 
Bailey,  175 
bdiller,  108,  n.  I 
bait,  77,  n. 
baize,  119 
Bakerloo,  66 
bald,  38 

bald-faced  stag,  38 
ballad,  152 
ballet,  152 
baluster,  60 
ban,  72 
banal,  73 
bandore,  149 
bandy,  109 
banish,  72 
Banister,  179 
banister,  60 
hanlieue^  73 
banjo,  149 
bannal,  73,  «. 
banns,  72 
Barclay,  145 
Bardell,  171 
Barker,  178 
baron,  1 91 
barracking,  1$ 
bartisan,  14 
Barton,  17a 
Bart's,  66 


basilisk,  38 
basnet,  156,  198 
bastinado,  26,  n,  a 
battant  neuf^  107 
batter,  154 
battledore,  132 
Bauer,  160 
bay,  108,  119 
Bayard,  1 19 
Bayliss,  175 
bead,  74 
beadroU,  74 
beadsman,  74 
beant,  108,  n.  I 
beat  the  bush,  108 
Beaufoy,  170 
Beaulieu,  123 
beaitpri,  128,  ». 
beaver,  155 
bec-jaune,  96 
bedlam,  61 
Beecham,  169 
beef-eater,  191 
bee  jam,  96 
beg,  193 
begum,  157 
belcher,  85 
beldam,  85 
beleite,  91 
belfry,  164 
Bell,  170 
Bella,  70  ' 
belladonna,  85 
Bellows,  170 
Bendigo,  190 
benet,  45 
bergamot,  157 
bergeronnette,  34 
bergomask,  157 
Bert,  70 
bess,  42 
bet,  77,  n. 
bete  a  bon  Dieu,  35 
Betts,  172 
betty,  42 
bever,  124 
beverage,  60 
Bewsher,  85,  «. 
bey,  157 
bezant,  49 
bible,  86 
biggin,  193 
bike,  66 


INDEX 


207 


bilbo,  50 

billiments,  66 

Billingsgate,  48 

billy-cock,  40 

binnacle,  63 

bird-lime,  200 

Bishop,  175 

biz,  67 

black  art,  130 

blackguard,  84 

Blood,  181 

Blount,  181 

bluff,  94,  n. 

Blundell,  181 

blunderbuss,  127 

Blunt,  181 

Bob,  172 

bobby,  4S 

bodice,  118 

Bodkin,  171 

boer,  84,  «,  I 

botte,  127 

Boleyn,  173 

bombasine,  96 

bombast,  96 

bona-fidey  4 

Bone,  181 
bonfire,  151 

bonhomme^  80 

bonne  femme,  80 
Bonner,  181 
bonus,  4 
boojum,  16 
book,  86 
Booker,  178 
boom,  17 
Boon,  170,  181 
boor,  84 

boot  and  saddle,  129 
bordereau^  93 
borel,  73 
boss,  20 
boudoir^  75 
boulevard^  121 
boussole^  127 
boutique^  II4 
bouvreuil^  33 
bovril,  16 
bowdlerise,  41 
bower,  160 
Bowery,  160,  n,  2 
bowie,  39 
Bowser,  85,  ». 


Bowyer,  176 
boycott,  41 
Boyer,  176 
Brabazon,  173 
brand  new,  107 
brandy,  68 
branks,  8 
brasse,  87 
Brazil,  51 
breeches,  117 
breeks,  117 
Brett,  173 
Brewer,  182 
briar,  165 
bridal,  121 
Bridges,  173 
brig,  67 
brigantine,  67 
brisk,  63,  n.  2 
Bristow,  173 
Britten,  173,  «.  3 
Brock,  180 
broderer,  178 
broker,  150 
bronze,  48 
brooch,  151,  202 
brose,  118 
brougham,  39 
Bruin,  36 
Brunpl,  181 
buccaneer,  63,  «. 
Biichse,  127 
Buchstahe^  86 
buck,  150 

Buckhurst  Holt,  135 
budget,  88 
bugle,  69 
Bull,  181 
Bullen,  173 
bulwark,  121 
buncombe,  48 
bungalow,  94, ;;, 
bunkum,  48 
buiden,  157 
bureau,  73 
burgonet,  199 
Burgoyne,  173 
burke,  41 
Bursche,  94 
bus,  69 
bushes,  127 
butcher,  150 
buttery,  165 


208 


INDEX 


buxom,  82 
Bythesea,  173 

Cab,  66 
cabal,  192 
cabbage,  153 
caboche^  153 
cad,  66 
caddie,  66 
cadge,  193 
Caesar,  175 
Caffyn,  181 
cage,  109 
cahier^  1 46 
caitiflf,  139 
cajole,  109 
calculation,  87 
calendar,  159 
calender,  159 
calfater^  20 1 
Caliban,  132 
callant,  68 
calumet,  24 
Calvert,  179 
cambric,  47 
Cambridge,  193 
camomile,  32 
canary,  51 
cancel,  88 
cancer,  35 
canify  55 
canker,  35 
cannibal,  132 
canter,  68 
canvass,  72 
cape,  26 

Capel  Couit,  152 
capes tro^  67 
capoty  102 
captain,  139 
captive,  139 
carat,  21 
Carew,  123 
Carfax,  122,  n.  2 
cargo,  142 
cark,  142 
carmine,  147 
carnell,  202 
carol,  152 
carousal,  166 
carouse,  166 
cartridge,  61 
case,  157 


cash,  157 
cashier,  18,  157 
cashmere,  47 
casket,  140 
cass,  157 
cast,  157 
caste,  26 
catch,  143 
catchpole.  165 
cate,  62 
cater,  63 
caterpillar,  33 
catkin,  33 
Catonet,  41 
Cator,  62 
cattle,  143 
caucus,  13 
caudle,  7 
cauliflower,  153 
caulk,  200 
causeway,  125 
caveat,  4 
cavestrolOy  67 
cavie,  109 
celandine,  30 
cercueily  140 
cerf -volant y  38 
cervelas,  136 
chabouk,  26 
chaise y  lld^  n.t 
Challen,  173 
Challis,  173 
Chaloner,  177 
chamberlain,  90 
chambriey  94 
chameleon,  32 
Champain,  173 
Champneys,  174 
chancel,  88 
chancellor,  88 
chancery,  165 
Chaney,  174 
Chanteclery  36 
chap,  67 
chapeaUy  26 
chapel,  26,  153 
chaperon,  27 
chaplet,  26 
Chapman,  175 
chapman,  67 
chare,  2 
charge,  142 
charwoman,  a  , 


INDEX 


209 


chase,  143,  157 
Chater,  143 
chaton,  33 
chattel,  143 
Chaucer,  175 
chauvin,  13 
chaw  buck,  26 
Chawner,  177 
Chaworth,  173 
cheat,  84 
check,  87,  120 
cheer,  135 
chelidonium,  30 
chenapan^  55 
Chenevix,  174,  n.  2 
chenille^  33 
cheptel^  143 
cheque,  89 
chequer,  87 
chercher^  57 
cherry,  116 
Chesney,  174 
chess,  120 
chesterfield,  40 
cheval-de-frise,  47,  «.  I 
chevalet^  39 
chevaucher^  66 
chewet,  37 
chieftain,  139 
chime,  8 
Chinee,  n6 
Chippendale,  40 
Chipping,  67 
chit,  96 
chore,  2 
chortle,  16 
chou,  153 
choucroute,  1 29 
chouse,  189 
chuet,  37 
chum,  94 
churl,  84 
cinch,  24 

cinematograph,  II 
cipher,  147 
cit,  66 
citizen,  122 
Clark,  145 
Claude,  45        ^ 
claymore,  13a 
Cleaver,  178 
clerk,  145 
clothes-horse,  39 


clove,  91 
club,  78 
cobalt,  44 
Cobbett,  171 
cobra,  26 
cockney,  186 
cocoa,  23 
cocoa-nut,  23 
coflFer,  140 
Coffin,  181 
coffin,  140 
cognovit,  4 
colander,  154 
Colas,  45 
cole,  153 
Collet,  170 
colon,  6 
colonel,  58 
Coltman,  177 
colza,  153 
comadreja,  92 
comma,  6 
commere,  94 
companion,  93,  165 
compassion,  2 
compere,  94 
complex,  4 
compound,  157 
comptroller,  88 
comrade,  94 
connect,  105 
constable,  89 
contrdle,  88 
controller,  88 
Conyers,  173 
coon,  64 
cooper,  81,  «. 
coopering,  67 
cordonniery  128 
cordwainer,  128 
come,  117 
Corner,  177 
Cornwall,  151 
Cornwallis,  174 
corp,  116 
corsair,  22 

costermonger,  63  «.  I 
couleuvre,  7 
counterpane,  137 
counterpoint,  137 
court-card,  129 
Coward,  i8i 
coward,  36 


210 


INDEX 


cowslip,  30 
cozen,  no 
crack,  67 
cracoviejine,  50 
crane,  38 
crane's  bill,  29 
cratch,  8 
cravat,  48 
crayfish,  125 
credence  table,  123 
crestfallen,  108 
cretin,  45 
crew,  .64 
Cri,  66 
crimson,  147 
crinoline,  137 
Crocker,  178 
Croker,  178 
crowd,  176 
crowfoot,  29 
Crowther,  176 
crosier,  164 
cubit,  87 
Cuddy,  36 
cuddy,  165 
cuirass,  i6l 
Cullen,  173 
cullis,  154 
culverin,  7,  38 
culvert,  203 
cummer,  92,  95 
curie,  161 
curmudgeon,  201 
currant,  49 
ourry,  95 
curry  favour,  131 
curtal  axe,  126  ^ 
Curtis,  181 
cushion,  169,  n, 
cuss,  68 
Custance,  1 71 
custodia,  103 
cutlass,  60,  126 
cutler,  126 
cutlet,  126 

Dada,  91 
dado,  142 
daffadowndilly,  71 
daffodil,  71 
Daft,  183 
Dago,  45 
dahlia,  3 1 


dainty,  139 
dairy,  165 
dais,  139 
daisy,  29 
Dalmain,  174 
Dalziel,  195 
dam,  120,  143 
damask,  47 
dame,  142 
dame-jeanne,  44 
D  ampler,  173 
damson,  49 
Dance,  181 
dandelion,  30 
dandy,  45 
Dangerfield,  175 
Danvers,  174 
dapper,  80 
dapple-gray,  7 1 
darbies,  40 
Darblay,  174 
Darby,  145 
Daubeney,  174 
dauphin,  34 
Daus^  109 
davier,  42 
davit,  42 
Dawnay,  174 
Day,  165 
day-woman,  165 
diy  61,  131 

dead  men's  fingers,  30 
Debbyhouse,  175,  «.  I 
debenture,  5 
decoy,  109 
Dedman,  181 
dijeuner^  148 
delf,  48 
deliberate,  i 
delight,  122,  «.  I 
demijohn,  44 
demure,  loi 
denizen,  122 
Dennis,  170 
Denry,  70 
Depew,  8 
derive,  55 
derrick,  40 
derring-do,  15 
derringer,  39 
desk,  139 
deuce,  109 
Dtus,  1 83 


INDEX 


211 


Devereux,  174 
Dexter,  176 
dexterity,  3 

diablotin^  171 

diane^  10 

diaper,  52 

dice,  142 

Dick,  172 

dickens,  44 

dicky  bird,  37 

die,  142 

Dietiich^  42 

Digg,  172 

digit,  87 

dimity,  149 

dinde^  52 

dindon^  52 

diner ^  1 48 

diocese,  150 

dirge,  5 

dirk,  20 

dirk^  42 

Dime,  82 

disaster,  106 

disc,  139 

dish,  139 

dishevelled,  135 

disk,  139 

dismal,  8 

Disney,  174 

ditto,  153 

ditty,  153 

Dob,  172 

Dobbin,  91 

docket,  93 

dodo,  33 

dogma,  6 

doily,  40 

Dolman,  174 

doll,  43 

dollar,  49 

dominie,  5 

domino,  102,  19I 

Dompfaffe,  34 

donah,  142 

doninha^  92 

donkey  engine,  38 

donna,  142 

donnola,  92 

do  re  me  fa  sol  la  si,  7 

dornick,  47 

dote,  80 


dotterel,  33 

dowlas,  48 

Drachen,  38 

dragon,  38 

dragoon,  38 

Drakenberg,  31 

dram,  87 

drat,  65 

draught,  i2o 

drawing-room,  65 

drill,  148 

drilling,  148 

Drinkwater,  180 

dropsy,  61 

drub,  26,  n.  2 

Druce,  173 

drugget,  52 

Dubberley,  174 

ducat,  49 

duenna,  142 

duffel,  48 

Duke,  175 

dummer  Peter,  Michel,  45 

dunce,  45 

Dupuy,  8 

Durbeyfield,  175 

Durward,  179 

duty,  II 

Duverney,  174,  «.  I 

D.V.,  4 

dyrk,  42 

Eager,  80 
earnest,  119 
easel,  18,  39 
ichouer,  97 
icouvillon,  43 
icrou,  93, «. 
icurie,  135 
icuyer,\l^ 
effendi,  22 
Eisenhut,  29 
eke,  114 
elbow,  87 
ell,  87 
ElUrn,  92 
Emmot,  36 
embarrass,  106 
emir,  148 
employ,  105 
endeavour,  II 
ensign,  128 
epitome,  6 


212 


INDEX 


equerry,  134 
'Erb,  70 
ermine,  48 
errant,  83 
£rz-,  83 
escabeauy  107 
escheat,  84 
eschew,  64 
esquire,  64,  135 
etch,  18,  133 
itincelle^  59 
ewer,  115 
example,  64 
exchequer,  87 
excise,  134 
exeat,  4 
exit,  4 

expression,  105 
eyas,  114 
eyre,  83 

Faire  la  noce^  95 
Fairfax,  181 
fairy,  77,  92 
falconet,  38 
faldstool,  141 
fane,  58 
farce,  93 
Farrar,  176 
farrier,  176 
farthingale,  137 
Fata  Morgana^  77 
Faulkner,  176 
fauteuil^  14 1 
Fauvel,  131,  192,  «, 
fay,  77 
feckless,  12 
fed  uji,  96 
fee,  143 
feeble,  58 
fellow-feeling,  1 
felon,  24 
fence,  64 
fender,  64 
ferret,  33,  149 
Ferrier,  176 
ferrule,  167 
ferule,  167 
fetish,  26 
fever-few,  30 
fiat,  4 
filbert,  35 
filibuster,  61 


fille,  82 
fire-new,  107 
firkin,  21,  «.  2 
Fitch,  180 
fives,  10 
flail,  58 
flawn,  136,  ». 
fieingall,  202 
Fletcher,  176 
floret,  150 
florin,  49 
flounce,  60 
flour,  144 
flower,  144 
foil,  196 
foist,  107,  «. 
folio,  6 
fond,  80 
foot,  86 
footpad,  167 
force-meat,  93 
foreign,  122 
forget-me-not,  30 
forlorn  hope,  18,  129 
Forster,  176 
Foster,  176 
fou^  80 
fouet^  129 
Frauenzimmer^  94 
fragile,  139 
frail,  58,  139 
freebooter,  61 
fret,  133 
fretwork,  133 
frieze,  47 
fritter,  154 
Frobisher,  177 
froncle^  25 
frontispiece,  82,  «.  i 
frounce,  60 
fruiterer,  63 
fuchsia,  31 
fugleman,  59 
Fuller,  178 
funkelnagelneu^  1 07 
furlong,  87 
furlough,  18 
furoncle,  25 
fusee,  198 
fusil,  198 
fustian,  47,  96 
fustian-anapes,  46 
fusty,  107 


INDEX 


213 


Galvanism,  40 
gambit,  158 
gamboge,  51 
game,  158 
gammon,  158 
gammy,  158 
gamut,  6 
gantlope,  130 
gaol,  109 
garage,  125 
garble,  21,  72 
garce^  82 
garibaldi,  39 
garret,  104 
Garrett,  171 
gas,  16 

Gascoyne,  173 
Gaskin,  173 
gaufre,  78 
Gaunt,  173 
gauntlet,  130 
geezer,  12 
gefallen^  109 
geindre,  187 
Gelbschnabely  96 
Geld^  142 
generous,  3 
geneva,  68 
genius,  4 
gent,  66 
geranium,  30 
gerben,  95 
gerfaut,  121,  «, 
•  Geschenk^  91 
Geselle^  94 
Gevatttr^  95 
Gewehr^  64,  «, 
Gibbon,  172 
Gift,  91 
gift  horse,  97 
Gilbey,  171 
Gillott,  170 
gilly-flower,  125 
gimbals,  144 
gimmal,  144 
gin,  65,  68 
gindre,  1 87 
gingham,  53 
gist,  10 
glai,  132 
glaive,  132  < — 
glamour,  13,  60,  145 
gleek,  102 


gloss,  155 
gloze,  155 
Godbehere,  170 
goffer,  78 
Gogs,  65 
gonfalon,  57 
Goodbeer,  170 
Goodenough,  170 
Goodeve,  171 
Goodlake,  171 
Goodrich,  171 
gorilla,  27 
goshawk,  153 
Gosling,  180 
Gosse,  180 
gossip,  94 
Gotobed,  170 
goupil,  35 
graft.  III 
grail,  13 
grain,  87 
gramarye,  146 
grampus,  33 
Grant,  18 1 
Great  Orme,  99,  «, 
Grecian  steps,  118 
Greenfield,  175 
greengage,  32 
greenhorn,  95 
Greenhow,  135 
Greenman,  i8i 
greyhound,  135 
grief,  122 
grimaldello,  42 
grimalkin,  43 
grimoire,  146 
grize,  118 
grocer,  175 
grog,  68 

grogram,  56,  «.,  68 
gross,  175,  n.  3 
grotesque,  141,  «. 
guerite^  103 
guinea,  51 
guinea-fowl,  5 1 
guinea-pig,  32,  51 
guillotine,  170 
guitar,  149 
guts,  84 
guy,  45 

Habeas  Corpus,  125 
hack,  66 

02 


214 


INDEX 


hackbut,  127 
Hackett,  171 
hag,  109 
haggard,  108 
haggis,  37,  7u 
Hahnenfuss^  29 
Haig,  179,  n, 
half  a  mo',  66 
halibut,  35 
Hammond,  171 
hand,  87 

hand  of  glory,  131 
hangar^  125 
Hannay,  174 
Hannibal,  170 
Hansom,  56,  ru 
hansom,  53,  n. 
Hanway,  173 
\  harangue,  23,  55 
harbinger,  2,  90,  164 
harbour,  2,  133,  164 
harry,  2 
Harvey,  171 
hatchell,  12 
hatchment,  136 
hauberk,  164 
Haunce,  174 
haut^  132 
haversack,  18,  «. 
'haviour,  66 
hawse,  164,  n. 
Hawtrey,  173 
Hay,  179,  «. 
Hayward,  179 
hearse,  75 
heart's  ease,  30 
heckle,  12 
hempie,  67 
Herd,  179 
Hereford,  2 
herrisch^  92,  «.  a 
Hewett,  171 
Hewlett,  171 
Hibbert,  171 
hiccough,  135 
Hick,  172 
Hig,  172 
hinterland,  14 
hippopotamus,  33 
Hitch,  172 
Hob,  172 
hobby,  91 
holjgoblin,  37 


Hobson's  choice,  19a 
Hochzeit^  95 
hock,  68 
Hoggart,  179 
hoUand,  47 
hollyhock,  35 
homely,  81 
Homer,  176 
homespun,  73 
homme^  55 
Honeyball,  170 
honeysuckle,  99 
honte^  55 
Hood,  172 
hooligan,  12 
Horner,  177 
horse-couper,  67 
host,  2,  158 
Howard,  179 
Howitt,  171 
Hudson,  172 
Huggin,  171 
huguenot,  203 
humble  pie,  113 
hunks,  82 

hurly-burly,  70,  189 
hussar,  22 
hussy,  82 
Hutchin,  171 

IB,  70 

Ibbotson,  172 
ili-starred,  106 
imp,  III 
indenture,  89 
index,  4 
Indian  com,  5a 
Indian  ink,  5a 
indigo,  51 
infantry,  76 
innuendo,  3 
inoculate,  iia 
insult,  3 
interfere,  106 
inure,  159 
inveigle,  1 10 
invoice,  118 
Irrgarten^  63 
isinglass,  137 
item,  4 

Jack,  42,  44 
jackanapes,  45 


INDEX 


215 


jackass,  37 
jackdaw,  37 
jacket,  44 
Janaway,  174 
jaquette,  37 
jarvey,  41 
jaunty,  127 
jean,  47 
jemmy,  42 
Jenner,  176 
jenneting,  121 
Jenny  wren,  37 
jeopardy,  108 
jesses,  120 
Jessop,  171 
jest,  74 
jilt,  46 
jingo,  13 
jockey,  45,  ill 
Johannisapfel^  I2I 
jolis  fous^  129 
Jonkoping^  67 
jonquil,  153 
joss,  27 

journeyman,  106,  165 
jovial,  106 
jug,  43 

Juggins,  43,  «. 
jumble,  144 
junket,  153 
Jiitte^  42 

Kafir,  26,  «.  i 
kail,  153 
Kanzel,  88 
Kapelle,  152 
Kemp,  176 
kennel,  158 
kerseymere,  47 
kestrel,  100 
kickshaAvs,  116 
Kiddier,  176 
kidnap,  no 
kilderkin,  21 
kilt,  19 
kimmer,  95 
King,  175 
kirtle,  150 
Kisser,  178 
kit,  149 
kitcat,  43 
kite,  38 
kittle,  59 


Kjobenhavn^  67 
kjSnne^  92 
Klaus,  42 
kloof,  91 
knapsack,  18 
knave,  55 
Knecht,  84 
knickerbockers,  44 
knight,  84 
Knoblauch^  9 1 
Kohl,  153 
kooi,  109 
kraal,  25 

Laager,  18 
label,  93 
Labouch^re,  178 
lace,  24 
lacrosse,  164 
lady-bird,  35 
lady's  bedstraw,  35 
lady's  garter,  35 
lady's  slipper,  35 
Lambert,  179 
Lambertsnuss,  35 
lampoon,  9 
lancegay,  25 
Lander,  178 
landier,  115 
landscape,  18     ' 
Langlois,  115 
lanterloo,  69 
larboard,  12 1 
larder,  165 
lariat,  24,  115 
Larkin,  171 
larkspur,  29 
LUrm,  115 
larrikin,  12,  190 
larum,  115 
lasso,  24 
lateen,  51 
Latimer,  177 
Launay,  174 
Launder,  178 
lavandihre,  34 
lawn,  47 

lay-figure,  18,  166 
leaguer,  18 
leech,  155 
legend,  3 
Leggatt,  171 
lemon,  160 


216 


INDEX 


lemon  sole,  i6o 

Liimmel,  96,  n. 

lettuce,  119 

luncheon,  124 

level,  58 

lupus,  3S 

Uvier,  115 

Lush,  90,  n. 

Levick,  115,  175,  «.  2 

Lusher,  90,  n. 

Ihvre,  117                      » 

lutestring,  128 

Lhuissier^  90,  «.,  1 15 

Lynd  hurst,  56 

libel,  42 

liber,  86 

Mabel,  58 

liebdugeln^  1 10 

macadamise,  41 

Herre,  115 

Mackenzie,  195 

Lilywhite,  180 

mackintosh,  39 

limb,  98 

Macnab,  19,  n. 

limbeck,  63 

Macpherson,  19,  «. 

limbo,  5 

Madeira,  51 

lime,  56 

madge  owlet,  37 

Limehouse,  48 

madonna,  142 

limner,  63 

magazine,  93 

linden,  56 

magenta,  39,  «, 

Lindwurm,  99,  ». 

maggot,  59 

lingot,  115 

magnet,  48 

liquorice,  137 

magnolia,  31 

list,  93 

magpie,  37 

Lister,  176 

mailed  fist,  156 

little  Mary,  43 

main  de  gloire,  131 

littoral,  14 

Mainwaring,  169 

Liverpool,  56 

majolica,  48 

livery,  77 

Malins,  173 

lobelia,  31 

malkin,  42 

locomotor  ataxy,  125 

Mall,  166,  n.  3 

lockram,  48 

malmsey,  51 

Loftus,  170 

Malthus,  170 

Lombard,  56 

malvoisie,  51 

lone,  62 

mammet,  43 

'longing,  66 

manant,  150 

loo,  69 

mandarin,  37 

lords  and  ladies,  30 

mandoline,  149 

Lorimer,  177 

manger,  8 

Loring,  174 
Loveday,  172 

•    mangle,  140 

mangonel,  140 

love  in  a  mist,  30 

Mann,  173 

Lovell,  171 

mauwer,  158 

Lowell,  171 

manoeuvre,  159 

LSwenmaul,  30 

manor,  9 

Lbwenzahn,  30 

Mansell,  173 

L.  s.  d.,  4 

mansworn,  15,  «.  I 

Lubbock,  173 

manual,  3 

lucifer,  4 

manure,  159                      ^ 

Luck,  173 

marabout,  147 

lucus,  184 

maravedi,  147 

lugger,  loi 

marble,  69 

lugsail,  loi 

marchand  des  quaire  saisons,  63 

lumber-room,  76 

Marchant,  145 

INDEX 


217 


[o6 


MarienkSfer^  35 

marionnette^  43 

marmalade,  31 

Marner,  176 

marquee,  116 

Marriot,  36 

marshal,  89 

Marshalsea,  90 

tnarsouin^  32 

Martello  tower,  60 

martin,  37 

martinet,  192 

niartin-pecheur,  37 

mascot,  13 

mask,  145 

masnadiere^  151 

Massinger,  177 

masterpiece, 

match,  8 

mate,  93 

matelot^  93 

Maud,  70 

maudlin,  61 

maul,  166 
Maulheere^  58 

maul-stick,  166 

maxim,  39 
maximum,  4 
May  hew,  171 
Mayne,  173 
mayor,  153 
maze,  63 
mazurka,  49 
tmdiastinus^  92 
Meerschwein^  32 
Meerschweinchen^  5 1 
megrims,  35 
meiny,  151 
melon,  31 
minage^  151 
menagerie,  151 
mend,  62 
mSnitrier^  76 
menial,  151 
Menzies,  195 
merchant,  67 
mercurial,  106 
merino,  153 
Merryweather,  180 
mesmerism,  40 
mess,  93 
messer^  92 
messmate,  93 


metal,  144 

mitiery  160 

mettle,  144 

mews,  120 

miasma,  6 

Middlemass,  173 

milliner,  48 

miniature,  81 

minstrel,  76 

mint,  142 

minx,  82 

miscreant,  127 

miser,  4 

misnomer,  9 

miss,  160,  n.  I 

mister,  160 

mistery,  159 

mizen,  9 

mob,  66 

Mohock,  12 

moidore,  142 

moineauy  34 

money,  141 

monkey,  36 

monkey-wrench,  38 

monkshood,  29 

monnaie^  142 

monsieur^  92 

Moon,  170 

Morel,  181 

morion,  199 

Morris,  174 

morris  dance,  49 

morris  pike,  49 

mosaic,  168 

mosquito,  39,  59 

Mother  Carey's  chicken,  36 

mouchoir^  99 

moustiquey  59 

Moxon,  172 

muckinder,  99 

tnuguety  148 

mulberry,  58 

mulligrubs,  35 

Mullins,  175 

mungo,  190 

Milnze^  142 

mtlre,  58 

mushroom,  56 

musk,  148 

musket,  38 

muslin,  47 

mustang,  23 


218 


INDEX 


Musters,  175 

nurse,  174 

mutande^  99 

nut,  188 

mystery,  159 

nutmeg,  148 
Nutter,  179 

Ndgele^  9 1 

mx,  188 

namby-pamby,  70 

Napier,  57.  182 

Object,  105 

napkin,  57 

obligation,  3 

fiappe,  57 

obvious,  105 

Nash,  114 

odium,  4 

naunt,  114 

odsbodikins,  65 

nausea,  6 

ogle,  no 

nave,  153 

ogre,  204 

navvy,  68 

oignon^  95 

navy,  153 

otseau  de  Saint  Martin. 

37 

nectar,  6 

Old  Nick,  44 

nectarine,  6 

omelet,  136 

Ned,  114 

omen,  4 

Neddy,  36 

omnibus,  5 

nigromancie,  131 

onion,  91,  «.  I 

negus,  40 

Onslow,  182 

neighbour,  84,  n.  l 

orange,  31 

Neil,  171 

oreste,  132 

Nelke,  91 

oriel,  58 

Nell,  114 

orlop,  18 

newt,  114 

orrery,  40 

nice,  80 

or  tell,  132 

nickel,  44 

ortolan,  33 

nickname,  114   ' 

oseille,  162 

nickum,  45 

ostler,  5S,  164 

nickumpoop,  45 

ounce,  114 

Nicodhme^  45 

nicotine,  40 

Pad,  167 

niddering,  15 

padder,  167 

nincompoop,  45 

padding,  96 
Padgett,  172 

ninny,  45 

ninnyhammer,  45 

padrastro,  25 

niveau^  58 

paj,  66 
paladin,  139 

noddy,  45 

noddypeak,  45 

Palatine,  139 

noix  gauge^  152 

palaver,  26 

Nokes,  114 

pallet,  156 
Palliser,  177 

^ 

Noll,  114 

nonce,  114 

Pall  Mall,  166,  «.  2 

Norfolk  Howard,  180 

palmer,  33 
.     Palsgrave,  139 

Norman,  185 

Norris,  174 

palsy,  61 
Pam,  69 

Norroy,  174 

nostrum,  4 

pamphlet,  41 
pandy,  5 

Nowell,  172 

Nugent,  173          0 

pantaloons,  44 

nuncheon,  124 

pantry,  165 

nuncle,  114 

Panzer ^  1 56 

INDEX 


219 


paper,  86 
parable,  26 
par b leu y  65 
parchment,  49 
parish,  61,  150 
Parker,  177 
Parkin,  171 
parley,  26 
parmaceti,  186 
parmesan,  186 
Parminter,  177 
Pamell,  172 
parole,  26 
parrot,  36 
parse,  5 
parson,  145 
Partlet,  36 
partridge,  61 
Pascal,  172 
Pascoe,  172 
pasquinade,  41 
pastern,  76 
past  master,  106 
Patch,  181 
patch,  8 
pathos,  6 
patten,  117 
patter,  69 
paume^  10 
pauper,  4 
Pav,  66 
pawn,  160 
pay,  160 
Payn,  181 
paynim,  77 
pea,  116 
peach,  49,  62 
peajacket,  135 
peal,  62 
Pearce,  181 
pecunia^  143 
pedigree,  77,  123 
Peel,  173 
pelargonium,  30 
phlerin,  58 
PS  Ussier  ^  176 
pen,  167 
pencil,  167 
Pennefather,  180 
Pentecost,  172 
penthouse,  12$ 
peon,  160 
perch,  87 


periwig,  63,  «.  2 
periwinkle,  128 
Perkin,  171 
Perrot,  36 
person,  145 
pert,  80 
peruse,  195 
pester,  76,  167 
Peterchen^  42 
petrel,  36 
petronel,  197 
Pettifer,  77 
Pettigrew,  77 
petty,  80 
pew,  8 
Pfalz,  139 
Phillimore,  175 
Philpot,  171 
Physick,  170 
pickaback,  71 
pick-axe,  126 
Pickard,  173 
pie,  37 
piebald,  38 
pierrot^  36 

fig-iron,  38 
•ilcher,  176 
pilgrim,  58 

?inchbeck,  40 
'inder,  177 
pine-apple,  32 
pion^  160 
pips,  102 
plain,  81 

flaudit,  5 
'layfair,  181 

plover,  99 

pluck,  83 

pocket,  97,  n. 

pocket-handkerchief,  98 

Pocock,  181 

Poidevin,  173 
pointe^  66 

poison,  91 

poke,  97 

polecat,  165 
^olka,  49 

Pollock,  174 

Poll  parrot,  36 
polonaise^  50 

polony,  49  ^ 

pomander,  57 

pomcitron,  3a 


220 


INDEX 


pomegranate,  3* 
Pomeranze^  31 
Pomeroy,  174 
pomme  depin^  32 
ponder,  i 
Pope  Joan,  129 
porcelain,  39 
porcupine,  32 
porpoise,  32 
porridge,  118 
port,  51 
portcullis,  154 
porter,  81, «. 
Portugee,  ii6 
Portvvine,  173,  n.  3 
Poslett,  169 
Posnett,  169 
possum,  64 
posthumous,  126 
post-mortem^  4 
posy,  145 
potence^  40 
Potz,  65 
pouce^  87 
Pouille^  114 
poulterer,  63 
pounce,  108 
pouncet-box,  108 
pourboire^  91 
Power,  181 
power,  9 
pow-wow,  14 
Poyser,  176 
prayer,  74 
premises,  6 
premisses,  6 
premium,  4 
prentice,  63,  106 
prepense,  i 
preposterous,  129, ». 
press-gang,  130 
Prester  John,  92,  «.  2 
Priddle,  175,  ».  i 
priest,  92 
primrose,  125 
proctor,  61 
pub,  66 
pudding,  74 
puisne,  80 
pun, 66 
punch,  94,  n, 
pundigrion,  66 
pundit,  94,  «. 


Punjaub,  94,  «. 
puny,  80 
Purcell,  180 
purlieu,  123 
purley,  1 24 
purloin,  186 
pursy,  126 
purview,  4 
Puy  de  DomCy  8 
puzzle,  64 
python, 6 
pyx,  6,  127 

Quaint,  78 
quair,  146 
quarrel,  i6i 
quarry,  160 
quarto,  6 
quean,  82 
querry,  134 
query,  5 
quilt,  137 
quince,  119 
quintal,  21 
quire,  146 
quirry,  134 
quirt,  24 
quorum,  6 

Rack,  154 
radius,  4 
raiment,  61 
rampart,  121 
ramper,  121 
ranch,  23 
rank,  23 
rappee,  9 
Read,  181 
Reader,  178 
reasty,  79 
reata^  24 
rebus,  5 
recreant,  127 
recruit,  64 
redstart,  117 
Reed,  181 
Reeder,  178 
Regenpfeifery  99 
Regenschirm,  64,  n, 
Reginald,  36 
rehearse,  106 
Reid,  181 
reint  Claude,  3a 


INDEX 


221 


reist,  79 

relent,  3 

remainder,  9 

remnant,  9 

Renard,  35 

rendre^  122 

renegade,  127 

requiem,  5 

restive,  79 

revel,  141 

revelly,  10 

Rejmold,  36 

Rich,  172 

Rick,  172 

Rittersporn^  29 

rival,  3 

Rob,  172 
rob,  148 
robe,  148 

Robin,  91 
robin,  37 

Rocinante,  177 
romance,  74 
Ronald,  36 
rosemary,  125 
rossignoly  42 
roster,  18 
rote^  176 
rouncy,  177 
Rouse,  181 
rouse,  117 
row,  117 
Rudge,  181 
rudimentary,  105 
rum,  68 
rummage,  76 
runagate,  127 
Runciman,  177 
Russell,  181 
rusty,  79 

Sabotage,  ri 
Sacheverell,  182 
sack,  116,  «.  I 
sake,  2 
saker,  38 
salade,  199 
salet,  199 
salary,  3 
salt-cellar,  135 
Salmon,  18 1 
salver,  123 
salvo,  123 


samite,  149 

samphire,  35 

sample,  64 

Samt^  149 

sandwich,  39 

Sandy,  70 

Sankt  Peters  Vogel,  36 

Saragossa,  51 

sarcenet,  47 

sardine,  48 

Sarg^  140 

Sargent,  145 

sash,  158 

sassafras,  30 

satire,  93 

saveloy,  136 

saxifrage,  30 

scabbard,  164 

scallion,  48 

scaramouch,  64,  n.  I,  143 

scavenger,  84 

schedule,  93 
scheitern,  97 

Scheme  I ^  1 07 

schtrmen^  64,  n, 

Schdntierlein^  92 

school,  56,  162 

scintilla,  4 

scion.  III 

scissors,  127 

score,  89 

screed,  93 

scrimer,  64,  «. 

scrimmage,  64,  «.,  1 42 

Scriven,  178 

scroll,  93 

scruple,  87 

scull,  162 

scullery,  43 

scullion,  43 

'sdeath,  65 

seal,  133 

sea-lion,  3a 

sear,  162 

search,  57 

secretary,  34 

sedan,  52 

seel,  133 

seesaw,  70 

sehr,  168 

Seide,  27 

seigneur ^  q2 

Sekt^  116,  ff.  I 


222 


INDEX 


selig,  45 
sendal,  47 
seneschal,  ga 
senior,  4 
sennet,  153 
senor^  92 
sentinel,  102 
sentry,  102 
sepoy,  146 
seraglio,  132 
serge,  27 
sergeant,  148 
serpent,  38 
servant,  148 
service-tree,  129 
Seward,  179 
sexton,  61 
Seymour,  169 
shalloon,  47 
shallop,  55 
shallot,  48 
shambles,  106 
shame-faced,  125 
shark,  33 
shawm,  24 
shay,  116 
Sheepshanks,  77 
sherbet,  146 
sherry,  51,  116 
shift,  99 
shilly-shally,  70 
ship,  105 
shirk,  33 
shirt,  150 
short,  150 
shrapnel,  39 
shred,  93 
shrew,  34 
shrewd,  34 
shrive,  74 
shrub,  146 
sieur^  92 
signor^  92 
silhouette,  40 
silk,  27 
silly,  45 

silly  Johnny,  45 
Sinclair,  169 
sinister,  3 
sir,  92 

sire,  92,  131,  «. 
sirloin,  191 
sirup,  146 


Sisson,  172 

sizar,  62 

size,  62 

sjambok,  26 

skate,  117 

skeeter,  65 

sketch,  18,  22 

skew,  64 

skinker,  124,  «.  2 

skipper,  17 

skirmish,  61,  64,  n.^  142 

skirt,  150 

slave,  22 

slim,  20 

Sloper,  178 

slow-worm,  99 

slug,  94,  «. 

slug-horn,  14 

smock,  99 

smug,  81 

snap, 18 

snapdragon,  29 

snaphaunce,  198 

snapsack,  18 

snark,  16 

snickersnee,  70 

Snooks,  170 

soccer,  66 

solder,  154 

soldier,  154 

SSldner^  154 

solemn,  140 

sorrel,  162 

sorrow,  168 

sorry,  168 

soudard^  154 

souilloiiy  43 

souse,  I2C 

sovereign,  122,  «.  I 

spade,  78 

spahi^  146 

span,  87 

spaniel,  49 

sparagus,  66 

sparrow-grass,  1 25 

spatula,  78 

spec',  67 

species,  140 

spence,  165 

Spencer,  65,  165 

spencer,  39,  188 

spice,  64,  140 

Spicer,  175 


INDEX 


223 


spick  and  span,  107 
spinning-jenny,  42 
Spitalfields,  64 
spite,  65 
Spittlegate,  64 
splay,  65 
sponge,  56 
Spoonerism,  60 
sport,  65 

sprightly,  122,  «.  I 
sprite,  64 
Sprossling^  III 
spruce,  48 
squarson,  66 
squire,  64 
stable,  56 
stage,  64 
staid,  loi 
stain,  65 
stale,  1 01 
stance,  143 
staniel,  202 
stank,  26 
stanza,  143 
starboard,  121 
stationer,  63,  «.  I 
Steckmpferd,  91 
Steinbrech^  30 
steingall,  20a 
Steppdecke^  137 
sterling,  79 
stevedore,  76,  «. 
steward,  90 
Stewart,  90 
stickler,  75,  172,  n.  2 
still-room,  165 
stimulus,  4 
Stoddart,  179 
stomacher,  156 
stone,  87 
stonegall,  202 
Storcnschnabel^  29 
stortelliy  144 
stout,  81 
stranded,  97 
stun,  106 
sullen,  140 
Summerfield,  175 
Sumner,  176 
supercilious,  3 
surcease,  126 
surly,  92 
surplice,  176,  n. 


surround,  164 
Surtees,  172 
swank,  203 
sward,  84 
sweet  William,  30 
sympathy,  2 
synopsis,  6 
syrup,  146 

Tabby,  47 
taffrail,  126 
taint,  64 
talisman,  22 
tallage,  134 
tally,  88 
talon,  9 
Tammany,  14 
tandem,  4 
tank,  26 
tankard,  59 
tansy,  30 
tantalise,  41 
tante^  70 
tarantella,  50 
tarantula,  50 
tartan,  19,  47 
tassel,  163 
'tater,  66 
tattoo,  18,  163 
tawdry,  65 
tease,  12 
teasel,  12 
'tec,  65 
teetotaller,  6 
teetotum,  6 
Telford,  182 
•tench,  65 
tender,  64 
tenet,  4 
tennis,  10 
tent,  163 
tenter-hooks,  154 
termagant,  46 
test,  106 
testy,  79 
tetchy,  163 
tetey  106 
thimble,  6r 
Thoroughgood,  170 
Tibbet,  171 
Tibert,  36 
tick,  67 
tidbit,  123 


224 


INDEX 


tiddlebat,  172,  «.  3 
•Tilda,  70 
Tillet,  171 
Tillotson,  172 
tilt,  108 

tinnuncu/uSf  loo 
tinsel,  59 
tire,  63 
tit,  123 
titbit,  123 
titmouse,  123 
tittlebat,  172,  «.  2 
tittle-tattle,  70 
'Tizer,  69 
tobacco,  194 
toby  jug,  44 
tocsin,  152 
Todhunter,  177 
toils,  108 
iol/e  Buc/im,  129 
tomtit,  37 
Tono-Bungay,  16 
Toogood,  170 
Tooley  St.,  65 
touchy,  163 
tousle,  12 
Towser,  I3 
toy,  18 
Tozer,  12 
trace,  118 
tram,  191 
traveller's  joy,  30 
treacle,  75 
trellis,  148 
trepan,  109 
tret,  144 
trews,  117 
tribunal,  4 
Tr  ink  geld ^  9 1 
tripod,  140 
tripos,  140 
trivet,  139 
trivial,  3 
trouble,  59 
Troublefield,  175 
trousers,  117 
trove,  61,  loi 
troy,  50 
truce,  119 
trump,  9 
Trumper,  i77 
tuberose,  125 
Tucker,  178 


tucket,  153 
tuck  of  drum,  15S 
tulip,  147 
turban,  147 
turkey,  52 
Tumey,  171 
turnip,  95 
tweeny,  92 
tweezers,  120 
twill,  148 
Tybalt,  36 

Umber,  152 
umbrella,  152 
umpire,  113 
uncouth,  2 
Underbill,  172 
undertaker,  63,  ».  I 
unkempt,  2 
unseal,  133 
upholder,  178 
upholsterer,  63 
usher,  90 
usquebaugh,  68 
utterance,  163 

Vagabond,  168 
vagrant,  168 
Valais,  152 
vambrace,  62 
vamose,  10 
vamp,  61 
van,  62,  69 
vane,  58 
vanguard,  62 
varech,  55 
Varney,  174  «•  * 
'varsity,  69 
varsovienne^  50 
vaunt,  194 
vauntcourier,  62 
Veck,  175,  n.  2 
vedette,  104 
vellum,  56 
veneer,  147 
venew,  123 
veney,  123 
venom,  56 
venue,  124 
verdigris,  129 
verheeren,  2 
Vemey,  174,  «.  1 
verse,  143 


INDEX 


225 


-    veriugadin,  137 
vet,  66 
veto,  4 

Vick,  175,  «.  a 
victoria,  39 
videlicet,  4 
vie,  65 
vigie,  103 
vignette,  81 
viking,  168 
villa,  150 
villain,  150 
vinegar,  80 
viva-voce^  4 
viz.,  4 
voile,  117 
voltaism,  40 
vril,  16,  tt. 

Wafer,  78 

wag,  67 
Wait,  176 
waits,  76 
Wales,  151 
Walker,  178 
Wallachia,  151 
wallet,  59 
Wallis,  152 
Walloon,  151 
walnut,  151 
Ward,  179 
warison,  14 
Warner,  176 
Wat,  36 
wattle,  59 
weed,  2 
week-end,  12 
Weenen,  31 
weir,  64,  «, 
Wellington,  39 


wench,  82 
wergild,  142 
wheatear,  117 
wheedle,  no 
wheel,  189 
whisky,  63,  n.  2,  68 
white  feather,  108 
Whittaker,  175 
Whittier,  177 
wig,  69 
Wilmot,  171 
wipe,  66 
wire,  66 
.  wiseacre,  128 
wistaria,  31 
witch-elm,  128 
worsted,  48 
write,  74 
Wyatt,  171 

Xeres,  51 

Yacht,  18 
Yankee,  116 
yard,  87 
yare,  95 
Ysopet^  41 

Zany,  45 
Zentner,  21 
zero,  147 
zest,  112 
Zettel,  93 
zigzag,  70 
zijde,  27 
Zins,  134 
Zoo,  66 
zounds,  65 
Zwiebel,  95 
Zwilch^  148 


\ 


\i 


\ 


\V    '^ 


^^ 


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COMPANIONS.  By  the  late  Admiral  Sir  F.  Leopold 
M^Clintock,    R.N.      With   Portraits  and  other   Illustrations   and 

Maps. 

THE  STORY  of  the  BATTLE  of  WATERLOO. 

By  the  Rev.  G,  R.  Gleig.     With  Map  and  Illustrations. 

LIFE  OF  ROBERT,  FIRST  LORD  GLIVE.     By 

the  Rev.  G.  R.  Gleig.     Illustrated. 

THE  WILD  SPORTS  and  NATURAL  HISTORY 

OF  THE  HIGHLANDS.  By  Charles  St.  John.  With 
Illustrations. 


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ROUND  THE  HORN  BEFORE  THE  MAST. 

An  Account  of  a  Voyage  from  San  Francisco  round  Cape  Horn  to 
Liverpool  in  a  Fourmasted  **  Windjammer,"  with  experiences  of  the 
life  of  an  Ordinary  Seaman.   By  Basil  Lubbock.   With  Illustrations. 

LETTERS  FROM  HIGH  LATITUDES.    Being  some 

Account  of  a  Voyage  in  1856,  in  the  Schooner  Yacht  Foam,  to 
Iceland,  Jan  Meyen,  and  Spitzbergen.  By  the  late  Marquess  of 
DUFFERIN.  ^  With  Portrait  and  Illustrations. 

FIELD  PATHS  and  GREEN  LANES  in  SURREY 

AND  SUSSEX.     By  Louis  J.  Jennings.     Illustrated. 

THE  LION  HUNTER  OF   SOUTH   AFRICA. 

Five  Years'  Adventure  in  the  Far  Interior  of  South  Africa.  With 
Notices  of  the  Native  Tribes  and  Savages.  By  R.  Gordon 
Gumming.    With  16  Woodcuts. 

DOG  BREAKING.  The  most  Expeditious,  Certain,  and  Easy 
Method.  With  Odds  and  Ends  for  those  who  love  the  Dog  and  Gun, 
By  General  W.  N.  Hutchinson.     With  numerous  Illustrations. 

THE  ROB  ROY  ON  THE  JORDAN,     a  Canoe 

Cruise  in  Palestine,  Egypt,  and  the  Waters  of  Damascus.  By  John 
Macgregor,  M.A.,  Captain  of  the  Royal  Canoe  Club.  With  Maps 
and  Illustrations. 

A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SIEGE  OF  GIBRALTAR, 

1779-1783.  With  a  Description  and  Account  of  that  Garrison  from 
the  Earliest  Times.  By  John  Drinkwaier,  Captain  in  the  Seventy- 
second  Regiment  of  Royal  Manchester  Volunteers.     With  Plans. 

THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  NICHOLSON,  Soldier  and 

Administrator.  By  Captain  Lionel  J.  Trotter.  With  Portrait 
and  3  Maps. 

A  SMALLER  DICTIONARY  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

By  Sir  William  Smith.     With  Maps  and  Illustrations. 

A  POPULAR   HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH 

OF  ENGLAND.  From  the  Earliest  Times  to  the  Present  Day. 
By  The  Right  Rev.  William  Boyd  Carpenter,  Hon.  D.C.L.,  Oxon. 
With  16  Illustrations. 


Mr.  Murray's  Standard  Works. 

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THE  BIBLE  IN  SPAIN  ;  or,  The  journeys,  Adventures  and 
Imprisonments  of  an  Englishman  in  an  Attempt  to  Circulate  the 
Scriptures  in  the  Peninsula.  With  the  Notes  and  Glossary  of  Ulick 
Burke.     With  Photogravure  Frontispiece. 

LAVENGRO :  The  Scholar,  the  Gypsy,  the  Priest.  A  New 
Edition,  containing  the  Unaltered  Text  of  .the  original  issue;  some 
Suppressed  Episodes  now  printed  for  the  first  time ;  MS.  Variorum, 
Vocabulary,  and  Notes  by  Professor  W.  I.  Knapp.  With  Photo- 
gravure Portrait,  2  Half-tone  Illustrations,  and  8  Pen  and  Ink 
Sketches  by  Percy  Wadham. 

ROMANY  RYE.  a  Sequel  to  Lavengro.  A  New  Edition. 
Collated  and  Revised  in  the  same  manner  as  **  Lavengro,"  by  Pro- 
fessor W.  I.  Knapp.  With  Photogravure  and  7  Pen  and  Ink  Sketches 
by  F.  G.  KiTTON. 

WILD  WALES :  its  People,  Language  and  Scenery.  New 
Edition.    With  Photogravure  and  12  Illustrations  by  A.  S.  Hartrick. 

THE  GYPSIES  OF  SPAIN.  Their  Manners,  Customs. 
Religion  and  Language.  With  Photogravure  Frontispiece  and  7 
Illustrations  by  A.  Wallis  Mills. 

ROMANO  LAVO  LIL  :  The  Word  Book  of  the  Romany  or 
English  Gypsy  Language,  with  Specimens  of  Gypsy  Poetry  and  an 
account  of  certain  Gypsyries,  or  places  inhabited  by  them,  and  of 
various  things  relating  to  Gypsy  Life  in  England. 


Works  of  the  late  Dean  Stanley. 

CHRISTIAN  INSTITUTIONS.  Essays  on  Ecclesiastical 
Subjects. 

LECTURES  on  the  HISTORY  of  the  JEWISH 

CHURCH  from  Abraham  to  the  Christian  Era.     With  Portraits, 
Maps  and  Plans.     3  Vols. 

LECTURES    ON    THE    HISTORY    OF    THE 

EASTERN    CHURCH.     With  an  Introduction  on  the  Study  of 
Ecclesiastical  History.     With  Map. 

HISTORICAL  MEMORIALS  of  CANTERBURY. 

With  Plans  and  Illustrations. 

LIFE  OF  THOMAS  ARNOLD,  D.D.  Head  Ma^^ter 
of  Rugby.  With  Preface  by  the  late  SiR  Joshua  Fitch.  With 
Portrait  and  Illustrations. 


Mr.  Murray's  Standard  Works. 

Each    3/6    net. 
Works  of  the  late  Mrs.  Bishop 

(Isabella  L.  Bird). 

HAWAIIAN  ARCHIPELAGO,  six  Months  among  the 
Palm  Groves  and  Coral  Reefs  and  Volcanoes  of  the  Sandwich 
Islands.     With  Illustrations. 

UNBEATEN  TRACKS  IN  JAPAN,    including  visits  to 

the  Aborigines  of  Yezo,  and  the  Shrines  of  Nikh6  and  Ise.     Map 
and  Illustrations. 


Darwin's  Life  and  Works. 
INSECTIVOROUS  PLANTS,    with  illustrations. 

CHARLES  DARWIN.  His  Life  told  iH  an  Autobiographical 
Chapter.  Edited  by  his  Son,  Francis  Darwin.  With  a  Photo- 
gravure Portrait. 

THE    ORIGIN    OF    SPECIES.       By    means    of    Natural 

Selection. 
Tfu  only  authorised  and  complete  Edition  (The  Sixth)  of  which  the  Copyright  does 
not  expire  for  several  years  to  come. 

THE  DESCENT  OF  MAN.  And  Selection  in  Relation  to 
Sex.     With  Illustrations. 

A  NATURALIST'S  VOYAGE.  journal  of  Researches 
into  the  Natural  History  and  Geology  of  the  Countries  Visited  during 
the  Voyage  of  H.M.S.  "Beagle"  Round  the  World,  under  the 
Command  of  Capt.  Fitzroy,  R.N.     With  many  Illustrations. 

THE  FORMATION  OF  VEGETABLE  MOULD 

THROUGH  THE  ACTION  OF  WORMS  :  With  Observations 
on  their  Habits.     With  Illustrations. 

THE  VARIOUS  CONTRIVANCES  BY  WHICH 

ORCHIDS  ARE  FERTILISED  BY  INSECTS.      With  Illus- 
trations. 

THE  EXPRESSION  OF  THE  EMOTIONS  IN 

MAN  AND  ANIMALS.     Edited  by  Francis  Darwin.     With 
Photographic  and  other  Illustrations. 

THE  VARIATION  of  ANIMALS  and  PLANTS 

UNDER  DOMESTICATION.     With  Illustrations.     Large  Cr. 
8vo.     2  Vols.     5j.  net. 

MOVEMENTS  AND  HABITS  OF  CLIMBING 

PLANTS.     With  Woodcuts. 


o 


BINDING  SECT.  OCT  2  0 


1966 


PE  Weekley,  Ernest 
^574^  The  romance  of  words 

WU  ^3d  ed.^ 
1917  " 


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